


Generation A

by Lukesnotpunk



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band), Halsey (Musician)
Genre: (not sorry), Alternate Universe, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Future, M/M, Sorry?, and she hasn't been modified by the genetic drugs, but we've got some time bc Michael and Luke are kinda enemies you feel, calum and ashton are kinda dicks oops, halsey is Luke's twin sister, it's like 30 years in the future idk, so that causes some problems, superhero au, superhero!5sos, there's gonna be sexy stuff later, there's torture now
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2016-09-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 04:39:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 24,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5525699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukesnotpunk/pseuds/Lukesnotpunk
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Well, I don’t know about you, but I know people. Books are based off of people, and people aren’t innately good. We are all born bad and have to fight to be good,” Michael said, keeping eye contact with me the entire time.</p><p>Or, Michael and Luke are basically superheroes because of government testing and they hate each other. Until they realize they don’t have a reason to anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Welcome To Camelot

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! This is my first muke fic, and I've wanted to write this for a while. I wrote a short story with OCs (they were lesbians so this was always gay) and I've wanted to expand on it for a while, and I thought Muke would fit really well into how the relationship is supposed to unfold so I'm excited about this! Thanks for reading Xx

_ If only invisibility worked on pimples _ , I thought as I tried to cover up the probably stressed-caused breakout currently gracing my forehead. I heard Ashley pounding on the door and rolled my eyes as she yelled at me for the hundredth time to hurry up. It was the same every day, me taking my time in the bathroom because inevitably everyone would be staring at me all day. Even when they couldn’t see me I could feel their eyes on me. 

Camelot wasn’t an easy city to live in. See, once upon a time our little city didn’t even exist, but that was before the government decided to start trying to take drastic measures to re-emerge as a world superpower. The youth wasn’t smart enough, strong enough, good enough. So they decided that obviously the thing to blame wasn’t the shitty structure of a country we were living in, it was our genetics. Easy solution for this: release a chemical into the water supply that would only affect fetuses. It would make the babies born to be smarter, stronger, better. Of course, they rushed this process, they didn’t let their test subjects grow up enough to know the long term effects. The kids had tested both stronger and more intelligent or completely and utterly unaffected, up until puberty. At that point, the kids who had tested above average began to get more intense manifestations of either strength or intelligence. Telekinesis, invisibility, flight, inhuman strength, all these things suddenly began popping up. Oops we created half a generation of superheroes!

I walked out of the bathroom and shot Ashley a slightly guilty smile, knowing that she would barely have time to shower now. We made it to school with two minutes to spare, and I hurried to my AP Lit class as the bell rang. In the middle of the pledge in walked Michael Clifford, seemingly uncaring that he was late. God, I hate him. Acting like he’s above everyone else just because he’s got the most intensely manifested powers of our little bit of Generation A. He strolled his way to the back row, giving a sarcastic salute towards the flag. Sure, America wasn’t exactly at the top of my list considering the government was the reason why my family had to be uprooted and looked down upon, but I wouldn’t outright act disrespectfully towards the flag. 

The class settled in and we began discussing our latest book,  _ Frankenstein _ by Mary Shelley. We talked about some background on Shelley as well as some common symbols and themes from the book, and near the end of the period our teacher finally let us start discussing things that could actually have multiple interpretations.

“Now, what are our opinions on the monster? Was he created evil or was it the circumstances that made him that way?” Our teacher asked. My hand automatically shot up, this was one class I was actually fully interested in. The teacher nodded towards me, indicating I could answer.

“I don’t think that the  _ creature _ was created evil. I think that he had good intentions, I mean look at how he acted with the Delacey family. He was forced to become evil because of the circumstances he was placed into. He had no guidance and was automatically seen as ‘different’ by everyone he encountered. If someone had taken the time to realize he wasn’t all that different from the rest of the people in the novel he definitely wouldn’t have resorted to the drastic measures he did.”

“Bullshit,” Michael muttered. I turned around to glare at him, my jaw clenching. He always does this, goes against me no matter how valid my point is.

“Oh? What’s bullshit about that, Clifford?” I snapped. I wasn’t really a confrontational person, but Michael knows how to push every single button I have.

“Well, I hate to break it to you princess,” I practically growled at the sarcastic nickname he often called me, “But ‘normal’ people don’t suddenly go on murderous rampages. The  _ monster _ was created with selfish and bad intentions, so therefore his life will be nothing but a reflection of that method of creation. It wouldn’t matter if Victor Frankenstein had a full blown therapy session with the thing, the monster still would know that it was created almost exclusively for bragging rights, and it would have turned evil anyways.”

“I think that you’re wrong. There’s no proof of the creature being evil before he was betrayed by the Delaceys and shot by the man in the book. Textually, your claim has no support,” The two of us were glared at each other as we talked. We got in these intellectual debates so often that our teacher just gave up on stopping us after a while.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I know people. Books are based off of people, and people aren’t innately good. We are all born bad and have to fight to be good,” He said, keeping eye contact with me the entire time.  
“You’re wrong,” I said as the bell rang. I took a deep breath to calm myself as I stormed out of the room. Ashley saw me from down the hall and looked worried.

“You okay?” She asked once I was close enough.

“Not really, no. That Clifford kid, ugh. I hate him,” I muttered, running a hand through my hair, definitely messing up the perfectly messy styling I’d taken so long in the bathroom to complete, and trying again to calm down. Her eyes flicked to a point just behind me where Michael was walking. We were going the same way since we had practically every class together as the two kids in the school with the most intensely manifested intelligence powers.

“Gen X,” He muttered, knocking into Ashley’s shoulder as he passed by. I grabbed him by the shoulder and pushed him into the lockers behind us, sick of his superior attitude and degrading actions.

“What did you just say to her? Want to say it louder?” I growled, grabbing him by the front of his shirt and pushing him back again. I saw his eyes flicker and knew he was getting ready to throw me off with his telekinesis.

“Come on, aren’t you strong enough to use your hands for once?” I teased, pushing back more. The first punch came about as soon as I expected it, and I took a step back to dodge it. He got himself away from the lockers and prepared to fight me more. He obviously had never had to physically fight before, but I grew up with older brothers; I knew how to throw a punch. My first hit landed in his stomach and he doubled over, but still had that smug look on his face.

“Is that all you’ve got, Hemmings?” He spat, trying to stand upright again. I punched him again in the face, and he fell to the ground. At this point there were people around us, staring in silent horror. Michael took me by surprise and kicked by legs out from under me, pinning me down as soon as I was on the ground.

“You’re nothing more than a bitter, power driven asshole,” I growled. He landed a quick punch on my jaw before I could struggle out his grip.

“And you’re nothing but a second rate superhero who can’t even win a fight for his sub-par sister,” He laughed before I headbutted him. He was stunned for a second and it was long enough for me to get him on the ground below me and start punching him. I was pulled off a few seconds later, shaking from anger.

“And don’t you  _ ever _ mess with Ashley again!” I shouted, fighting against whoever was holding me.

“Mr. Hemmings, I’m going to need you to calm down,” My English teacher said, apparently she was the one holding me.

“Whatever.” I muttered, shaking myself off once she let me go.

“Hemmings, Clifford, my office.  _ Now _ .” The principal growled. No one had come forward to help Michael up, and if they had he probably would’ve told them to fuck off anyways. I gave Ashley a small smile and she responded with a worried look. I shrugged as I followed Michael and Principal Ferra down the hall. We were seated in his office as far apart as possible, engaged in a silent staredown with each other.

“What was that you two?” He asked. He was sitting upright, his hands clasped in front of him, but the tell tale vein in his neck was bulging slightly. We were two of his brightest students, and therefore he got more funding from the government, so he wasn’t going to do anything to get us in real trouble.

“Mr. Clifford,” I said his name like it was poison on my tongue, “insulted my sister. Again. I was sick of watching Ashley have to take it. Sick of Clifford really. He’s got a horrible attitude, he doesn’t even  try in any class unless it’s to put me down-”

“Stop thinking that everything is about you, Hemmings. Yeah, I called his sister a Gen X-er. What’s the big deal? It’s just a classification,” He had that look in his eyes and smirk on his face that made me want to punch his face all over again.

“It’s not just a classification at this school and you  _ know _ it,” I growled, clamping my hands onto the arms of my chair.

“Enough!” He shouted over us, standing up. His vein looked like it was about to pop out of his neck, “Both of you, go to the detention room. You’ve got ISS for the remainder of the week. Together.”   
“Sir, with all due respect, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Hemmings, with all due respect, the two of you need to get over whatever feud you have going on. You two have the highest test scores in the country, and you  _ will  _ be working together in the future. So whatever pissing match you’ve got going on needs to end and you need to learn to work together. Edward will be escorting you to the room, and if the two of you get within two get out of your desks, sensors will let us know. No more fighting. And you already know the detention room voids all powers.” He said. We were marched down to the detention room and told to sit in our seats. The school was under staffed, but over funded. Therefore we could afford sensors to tell if we were moving, but not a teacher to actually watch us. We sat in tense silence for an hour before I decided to finally break it.

“Sorry I punched you in the face,” I muttered, “You’re not the only one who picks on my sister so much for not being a genetic monstrosity. Like it’s a bad thing to be normal. I just snapped.”

“I wasn’t talking about Frankenstein earlier.”  
“I know.”

With that, we sat in slightly less tense silence until the end of the day when they came and let us out of the room. 

<> <> <>

Ashley had already told my parents what happened, and they didn’t really care. They knew I was bound to snap and stand up for her some time. Apparently they saw it coming far before I did. Everyone else from school was pretty disgusted with us for actually using our fists instead of powers to fight.

“Yeah, we saw it coming, but, like, it wasn’t cool that you guys actually fought. I was expecting you to… Not act like the strength specializers. That’s all,” My “friend” Calum had told me over the phone that night. We were being looked down upon because we hadn’t acted in true Generation A fashion; we had gone down swinging in the traditional sense.

“Cal, is that a joke? Seriously? What the hell was I going to do to him? Turn invisible? I can’t  _ do _ anything else. He would’ve had me hanging in the air in two seconds flat,” I scoffed.

“Yeah I suppose, but like… It’s just weird man. You acted like, so, I don’t know, Gen X.” There was about a second of silence before Calum realized what he said.

“Wait, shit, Luke, I didn’t mean it like that I-”

“Fuck off,” I muttered as I hung up the phone and threw it across the room, watching as it clattered to the ground by the door. Calum never understood what my siblings had to go through. He had an older sister, but she was only a little over a year old than him, and she’d been in one of the first rounds of kids whose powers appeared once the drugs had gone public and they started throwing families into places like Camelot. 

After the government figured out that their test subjects had developed superpowers, they made the families of affected children move to their own city-states, like Camelot, to teach kids to control their new powers. However there was a flaw in their system: even if the families had non-genetically modified children, if they had one affected child the whole family had to uproot their lives. Like my family. I was a twin, and for some reason my genetic modification only latched onto the Y chromosome, so my sister Ashley wasn’t changed in any way, shape or form. My two older brothers were now away at college, but they had to grow up in Camelot being bullied mercilessly for not being as “special” as us Generation A kids.

So to call someone Gen X wasn’t just a classification like Michael had tried to say. It was an insult, calling their genes fucked up for not accepting the modification, the “gift” given to us Gen A kids. People like Michael who thought they were inherently better because of the fact the shit in the water supply had affected them bothered me to no end. I was laying down, trying to calm my mind, when someone knocked on the door.

“I’m really not in the mood for a lecture right now, so if that’s what you’re here for, kindly fuck off,” I said, making sure I was loud enough for whoever was on the other side of the door to hear. The door opened and Ashley popped her head in.

“Are you in the mood for a thank you?” She asked, a sheepish smile on her face.

“Well, I’m always up to people stroking my ego,” I joked, moving over so she could lay down with me on the bed. Her smiled turned genuine and she rushed into the room. She flopped down next to me, curling into my side.

“I’m sorry you got in trouble for standing up for me. Even though it was a fucking dumb thing to do, thanks,” She muttered into my shirt.

“It was pretty dumb, wasn’t it?” I paused, thinking of what really could’ve happened, “Clifford could’ve killed me or something if I’d actually gotten him mad enough.”

“Yeah. Scared the shit out of me when you pushed him against the lockers and he almost used his powers on you. If anything had happened to you just because you were defending me I…”

“Ash, don’t worry about me. I can handle Clifford, okay? I know he’s dangerous and all, but I know how to deal with him. I’ve had twelve years of practice,” I smiled and she rolled her eyes at my statement. Michael and I first met in first grade, and our teacher paired us together for something. He was really quiet, and I assumed he hated me so I asked him why he didn’t like me, like the naive little five year old I was, and he automatically got mad and pushed me off a chair with his powers. Since then we’ve never gotten along.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I just like to baby you, little brother,” She teased.

“Okay, two minutes doesn’t make me your little brother,” I said, sitting up to glare at her.

“You just don’t want to be the baby of the family, understandable. To be fair, you just have such a baby face.” She saw the look in my eyes and got up to run away before I could disappear and chase her.

“No fair Lucas! You can’t use your powers on me!” She shouted as she ran down the hall to her room. I walked after her lazily, letting her think I was running like her. Things were never going to be perfect, but moments like this almost made up for it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked the chapter! Again this is my first fic on here so it'd be awesome if you left comments!  
> You can also drop me an ask at lukesnotpunk.tumblr.com if you want to.  
> Thanks again for reading, there's lots more to come!


	2. Welcome (Back) to Detention

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, I hope you like the chapter!

The next day I managed to not make Ashley and I late for once. However, my entire family almost had a stroke when she walked downstairs.

“Did you bleach your hair?” Our mom choked out when she saw her.

“No, it just magically lost its pigment overnight,” She joked, grabbing the toast laid out for her.

“Kinda sudden isn’t it?” I asked, thinking back to whether or not she had said anything about this.

“Kinda. I bought it about a month ago, and I was just waiting to pluck up the courage. I was inspired by your heroic actions,” She said, sarcastically clutching her hand over her heart and pretending to swoon.

“You’re such a weirdo, Ash. Come on, I’m actually ready on time for once, let’s get a move on,” I said, grabbing my backpack.

“I see you’re real excited to spend the day with Clifford in lock-up,” She said, eyeing my agitation. I groaned in response.

“I totally forgot that I had that today. Fucking hell.”

“Language Luke!” My mom yelled as we walked out the door. Ashley laughed at me and skipped over to the car, flipping her hair over her shoulder as she went. The drive to school was a little quieter than usual as I thought about having to sit with Michael for six hours straight in tense silence. Ashley was really trying, she even put on my favorite All Time Low album, but nothing was going to make this day, or the rest of this week, less painful. When we got to school, things were awkward. As I walked down the hall people stared and whispered. After the first hallway like this, I just became invisible and Ashley laughed.

“You’re lucky you’ve got an easy out. I’ll  _ see _ you at the end of the day, weirdo,” She said, skipping off to her friends who were all freaking out over her hair. 

As I was walking towards the detention room I thought I’d fuck with Michael a little bit and wait until he got into the room and appear right behind him. It’d been awhile since I’d done something like that because I got in trouble for not “correctly using my powers” in middle school a few times when they first started showing up. If I’m already stuck in ISS with the object of my hatred I suppose I can’t really get in any more trouble at this point. I stood outside the detention room, thinking about how weird it was that the room could void our powers when Michael walked up a few seconds after the one minute warning bell. As he got to the room, a tired look on his face, I paused to study him before scaring him. His eyes had heavy bags underneath them, making him look much older than seventeen, and he had a bit of scruff around his chin, showing he hadn’t taken time to shave this morning. He didn’t think anyone was looking at him, so his usual arrogant smirk was off his face as he rushed down the empty hall. He just looked… beaten. The usual fire in his eyes was completely gone, all traces of fight off of his face, other than the black eye I’d given him. Once he confirmed there wasn’t anyone around he began walking with a limp, showing that I actually had done damage to him yesterday. I felt pity for his state, and I decided to just wait until he was in the room and walk in after a few seconds to make it look like I hadn’t been watching him.

Of course, this plan was wrecked the second that Michael walked in and saw I wasn’t there. He spun around, glaring into the hall.

“Hemmings, you’ve never been late to class a day in your fucking life. Were you trying to scare me or something?” He said, clenching his jaw.

“Yeah, or something,” I muttered, reappearing. I walked in the room and sat down in the seat closer to the windows, earning me yet another glare from Michael. A minute later a frazzled looking secretary walked in holding two stacks of paper.

“Here you go, boys. Just finish up this work before the end of the day, alright?” She smiled tightly before she rushed out of the room again. We sat in tense silence as we quickly completed the assignments. They must’ve given us the bare minimum, knowing that we wouldn’t be able to listen to actual lectures today. Reading was too easy with our enhanced genetic makeup and they’d just given written notes for all of our classes today. I finished the work in a total of half an hour, and I groaned.

“What’s wrong, Hemmings? Struggling with the work?”

“Opposite actually. I’m done. Now I’m gonna be bored out of my fucking mind for the rest of the day,” I muttered.

“Me too,” He said in return, scribbling a last thought down before stacking all his completed work. Sure, the Gen A kids at this school were all smarter than non-genetically modified kids, but we were the smartest two in the entire school. The work was made to be challenging for the average Gen A kid, but we were too far above average to factor in. Michael and I fell back into tense silence.

“I saw you walking down the hall before. I’m sorry I fucked you up so bad,” I said quietly, glancing over at Michael to get his reaction.

“I’m not going to say it’s okay, but it’s understandable. I don’t have anything against your sister, honestly I think she’s pretty cool. I was just trying to get to you,” He glanced over and scanned my injuries, a cut lip and a bruised jaw, “and I guess I got what I wanted.”

“Yeah. You’re not the only one who fucks with her. Half this goddamn school thinks they’re better than her because their genes accepted the modifications,” I gritted my teeth, fighting to not get angry at Michael again. It wasn’t going to get me anywhere today.

“I’m jealous of her,” He said, staring out the window.

“What? Why are you jealous of my sister?” I said incredulously. He chuckled darkly before replying.

“I’m not jealous because she got to share a womb with you for nine months, don’t worry about that. I’m jealous because she can do whatever the fuck she wants when she gets out of here. She can travel the world, or settle down, or do whatever job she wants. I’m stuck on the path I’ve been predestined to be on since they released the fucking drugs.” The bitterness leeched into his voice, breaking his cocky exterior again.

“We’re stuck,” I muttered. He looked up, surprised at my words.

“Golden boy Hemmings isn’t happy with his life?” He said, a sarcastic smile quirking at his lips.

“Golden boy Hemmings would give this life up in a second if he could stop the shit that he put his family through to get here,” I said, laughing a little, “Why the fuck am I even telling you that though? Just more ammunition for you to mock me.” I had a feeling I was wrong though. There was already a shift in the way we were treating each other. We’d never had a civilized conversation this long before.

“I know exactly what you mean. I’d give all this up in a second if it meant I could get my family back,” He said, smiling sadly. 

No one knew what happened to Michael’s family. Everyone figured that they didn’t want to uproot their lives and had simply given him up, quite a few families had done that in the early days. The way he was talking though, it didn’t seem like that was the case. If your family gave you up you were nothing but resentful towards them (and usually yourself), but the way Michael had just spoken about his family seemed as though he missed them. I wanted to ask him about it, and I turned to face him, but before I could say anything every security guard in the school came rushing into the room. I looked down and saw that I must have triggered the sensor.

“Hi, sorry. We were just talking. I wanted to be more comfortable, these desks are exactly built for luxury,” I joked. The head of the team, Mr. Lewis, looked mildly annoyed.

“Alright, Luke. Just… Stay still, yeah?” He asked. I nodded in response and shifted to get myself back within where I was supposed to sit.

“Well, I guess we know what happens when we trigger the sensors now,” Michael said.

“Yeah. That’s always a step up,” There was a beat of silence, and in that I could feel that Michael was glad for the interruption, so I didn’t trying to bring it back up. Instead, I struck up a conversation about our batshit crazy art teacher who was always rambling on about ghost stories while we were working. From then on, we talked more easily about random shit. I even realized that we had a pretty similar music taste. The only relative silence came around while we were eating a lunch that consisted of the “healthy” food from the cafeteria. After that we went back to discussing music.

“You should listen to some of Ashley’s stuff sometimes. She’s an amazing singer. And she writes songs constantly, I don’t know how she does it,” I said. He was about to say something back, but the bell rang. I looked up at the clock, realizing we’d been talking for almost the entire day.

“I’ll bring my iPod tomorrow, we can listen to some stuff after we’ve done our homework,” Michael offered, a small smile on his lips.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” I said as I stood up. Michael and I stood up at the same time, and for a second we were face to face before I rushed out of the room. Though there’d been a noticeable shift between us, the world outside was a completely different story.

“You survived! I thought for sure you and Clifford would’ve ripped each other’s heads off by now,” Calum joked.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you seen Ashley?” I asked.

“I think I saw her in the music room. Her hair sure is interesting looking,” He said, a slight smile on his face.

“Don’t try hitting on my sister again. I like you and all, but I like her more, sorry!” I called over my shoulder as I rushed towards the music room. Calum scoffed at my comment, but I was never going to let him live down the fact that he had tried to ask my sister out sophomore year. She made it pretty clear she wasn’t into him though when she just started laughing and walked away. I was the only one to witness the awkward encounter in my kitchen, and even though we both knew I’d never tell anyone I still ripped on him constantly for it.

When I got to the music room, Ashley was sitting there with her guitar in her lap and a small crowd of her friends around her. She glanced up when I walked in, but she didn’t stop singing about being a hurricane. I stayed by the door, leaning against the frame. I felt someone approaching behind me, and I looked back to see it was Michael. I knew Ashley would freak out if she saw him, so I made him invisible.

“She can’t see you,” I murmured as he came closer. I couldn’t either to be honest, but I wasn’t going to tell him that.

“Cute. I suppose she doesn’t really want to see me,” He muttered.

“Can you blame her?” I asked.

“I suppose not. I was just walking by, and I saw you were waiting and figured Ashley was doing something musical. She’s really good, you were right,” He said softly, not wanting to have anyone in the room hear him.

“Yeah. She’s going to Los Angeles once she graduates. She’s gonna do something great with herself, even if this town never let her see herself as something special.”

“I’m happy for her. I’ve gotta take off, but I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” He said. I made him reappear and sucked in a breath when I realized how close he was. His eyes scanned my face quickly before his trademark smirk reappeared and he walked off.

“Yeah, tomorrow,” I muttered even though he was already too far away to hear me.

<><><>

The next day Michael was on time to school for the first time in my known memory.

“Wow, Clifford. You're on time. Didn't know you had it in you,” I joked, already sitting at my desk and playing on my phone.

“I’m just full of surprises,” He teased, throwing his iPod my way.

“You're giving me free range of your music collection? Wow I guess you really trust me.”

“Yeah, whatever, don't make me change my mind,” He muttered. I smiled at him as I started scrolling through it. He had a lot of music that I listened to, along with a few bands I’d never heard of.

“How are we listening to this? Have you got speakers or something?” I asked, picking out my favorite All Time Low album, Dirty Work.

“Or something, hand it back,” He said.

“I don't know if I can reach without triggering the alarm,” I said. Michael rolled his eyes and suddenly his iPod lifted out of my hands and over to him.

“What the--our powers aren't supposed to work in here!” I said. I knew people who’d gotten detention in the past, and they had never been able to use their powers no matter how much they tried.

“Too powerful. I've known it since sophomore year when they threw me in here for skipping gym every day for a few weeks. It's more meant for not as powerful mind powers or strength people. I bet you could use your powers too if you tried.”

I automatically triggered my powers and went invisible. I laughed and made my desk invisible too.

“I suppose I'm too powerful as well. Look at us go,” I said, becoming visible again.

“We are the two most powerful students in the school. I suppose if we didn’t want to be in here we wouldn’t have to be. I wonder if I could make the sensors think we hadn’t moved…” A second later, he was lifting into the air and out of his desk, not triggering the alarm on the side at all. I laughed and he shot me a smile before doing the same to me.

“How do I know you aren’t just being nice to me because you want to beat the shit out of me when I’m least expecting it?” I asked, half joking but half not. Though yesterday was a good day, it didn't really change the fact that there had been twelve years worth of bad ones beforehand.

“I trusted you with my iPod didn't I?” He teased, a soft smile on his face. I laughed and shrugged, supposing that was as much of a promise I was going to get. He sat down against the wall with one headphone in his ear and held out his other hand, inviting me to take it. I cautiously sat next to him and took the headphone as he pressed play.

We spent the rest of the day going back and forth choosing songs and talking about our favorite musicians. A minute before the bell Michael floated us back into our seats, and as soon as the bell rang the two of us got up.

“Don't even give me that shit. Panic’s new album is going to be fucking awesome,” I said.

“I’m just saying, Brendon can't beat ‘A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out’ no matter hard he tries,” Michael said as we walked out of the room.

“Okay but Ryan Ross was an asshole so the band is better off without him!” I exclaimed.

“Okay, you got me there,” He said, smiling as we walked down the hall. It took me a second to realize there was complete silence in the hall.

“I guess everyone is expecting a show,” I muttered, gritting my teeth.

“Luke, what the fuck,” said a familiar voice behind me. I spun around to see Calum and Ashton standing there, Ashley a bit behind them. Their response wasn't exactly unwarranted after how long Michael and I couldn't go without fighting each other in some sense.

“We were just talking about the best Panic! at The Disco album. I’ll see you later, Michael. You ready to go, Ashley?” I asked. Confusion was still coloring her features, but she nodded and walked forward. I waved to Michael as Ashley and I walked out of the hallway of frozen figures and the whispers started. Once we got to the car, Ashley turned to me, opening and closing her mouth a few times before figuring out what to say.

“The bruises haven't even faded yet, Luke. I know you aren't happy here, I'm not happy either, but you can't just cling to everyone who is disenchanted with the government,” she said, worry leaking into her voice.

“That's not… I, you don't get it Ash! He understands what I’m feeling. We’re going through the same shit, and I haven't met anyone like that yet.”

“Yeah. He understands because he's fucking Gen A. I can't get it because I'm Gen X, I'm a goddamn loser.”

“No, Ashley, you know that's not what I meant, please-”

“Save it,” she muttered as she peeled out of the parking lot a little too fast. She could empathize with me, but she never truly understood the burden of this “gift.” The fact that Michael could was drawing me to him more than I’d ever been drawn to anyone before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you liked that, don't forget to leave a comment if you have anything to say about it! I'll be posting as much as I can before I go back to college in about a month because I have free time right now.  
> Feel free to send me an ask at my tumblr lukesnotpunk as well.  
> Thanks for reading!


	3. Welcome to the Life of an Outcast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm actually the worst SORRY this took me so long to update I hope you like the chapter!

Calum and Ashton kept calling me that night, but I didn't even try to answer. I just listened to their voicemails telling me that I should stay away from Michael because the two of us are so different, and how I'm so much  _ better _ than him. Eventually I just turned my phone off and went to bed early, knowing that when I woke up I’d get to spend another day with Michael. Our last day in detention. I got there on time, expecting Michael to be there before the bell like the day before, but he was nowhere in sight by five minutes after. When the woman came in to drop off our work for the day, she asked where he was and I just shrugged. Another twenty minutes in and I could feel my mood plummeting.

Of  _ course _ he didn't show up. What was I expecting? People don't really change. They just hide how they really are for long enough to get everyone to believe they've changed, but they're not any different if we’re being honest. Just like any time that I can't control my emotions, I felt myself becoming invisible.

“Fucking hell. Fuck this shit,” I said as I stood up. The security rushed in, but they couldn't see me so I just walked out.

“What the hell, where are they? Hemmings came into the school this morning! So did Clifford! Look all over, I don't know if Hemmings turned them invisible or what, but he was in this room. Who knows with Clifford, but we have to find them,” Principle Ferra said, rushing out of the room. I started wandering around the school, knowing that I’d probably run into Michael somewhere. I heard a weird noise coming from a bathroom, and I walked in with a weird feeling about it. Calum, Ashton, and my other friend Alex were standing there, a few strength specializers pinning Michael up against the wall.

“What the fuck!” I shouted, fighting to make myself visible again. Everyone spun to look at me as I appeared.

“Luke, hey, we’re just getting even for your ISS sentence,” Calum said, smirking as he turned back to Michael. One of the guys, I think his name is Curston or something, punched Michael in the gut, and Michael look like he was about to pass out.

“I’m the one who fought him! What the hell are you doing; let him go!” I shouted, rushing forward. Jackson tried to grab my arm and pull me back, but I shook him off, grabbing Michael from their hands.

“Luke… What are you,” he coughed, a little blood coming up, “why are you here.”

“Just be quiet for a minute okay, I'm gonna get us out of here,” I muttered, making us invisible.

“Luke, don't help me, I-”

“Michael I swear to god if you don't shut the fuck up right now I'll make you,” I whispered. Michael stopped after that, and I could feel him sagging against me as I walked us out of the school. I walked us to Ashley’s car and unlocked it, knowing she would kill me for this, but not caring as I loaded Michael into the passenger seat.

“Thank you,” he said quietly as I buckled him in, knowing from the bruised state of his knuckles that he wouldn't be able to do it himself. He must have tried to fight back at the beginning, but he was too outmatched to ever have had a chance.

“I’m sorry. I should've talked to them… They just don't understand. It doesn't make sense I suppose, after I've hated you for so long,” I said before going around to my side of the car. He seemed to at least be conscious enough to understand me, and I saw his eyes follow me to the other side of the car. I climbed in and he let his eyes fall to his hands that were resting in his laps.

“They kept telling me not to fuck with you. They said if I was messing with you, being nice for nothing, they’d make me hurt so bad that I wouldn't have enough of a brain left to lift anything with my hands let alone my powers,” he muttered. I swore under my breath as I pulled out of the parking lot.

“I'm really sorry, Michael. I thought they were just mad at me for blowing them off or something I never thought they’d do this… I promise I'll talk to them,” I was silent for a while as I drove towards my house, “Ashley said the same thing this morning. I really hope she didn't say anything…”

“She has every reason to hate me. I was an asshole to her,” he said, wincing a bit as he shifted in his seat. We were in silence as we drove through town towards my house. Once we arrived I helped him inside, even though he claimed that he could manage it on his own. I lead him into the bathroom before pulling out a first aid kit. I pulled out a washcloth and started cleaning the wounds I could see, apologizing quietly every time that he winced.

“I’m really fucking sorry. I’m so,” I clenched my jaw and took a deep breath to try to calm down, “fuck them for doing this to you. You didn’t do shit. The one time since I met you that I didn’t ask them to beat you up, they fucking do it. Fuck this!” I shouted, stepping back. Michael grabbed my wrist since it was the only thing in his arms’ reach, and I stopped to look at him.

“Luke, it’s okay… It’s not like you could’ve known, okay? Just, calm down. It’s too late to do anything now,” he said, trying to hold me in place. I relaxed a little bit, but I eased his hands off of my wrist and walked towards the door.

“Michael, stay there, I’ll just… I’ll get an ice pack, I’ll be right back,” I muttered, walking to the kitchen. I felt my phone buzzing in my pocket and pulled it out, seeing that Ashley was calling me and groaning. I reluctantly answered, knowing I was about to get chewed out.

“Luke? Are you okay? Where are you?” She asked, all in one quick panicked breath.

“I’m fine, Ash. I just… I was in the detention room or whatever, and I got upset when Michael didn’t show up and it triggered my powers. So I-”

“You can’t use your powers in the detention room Luke, stop lying,” she said, confusion coloring her tone.

“I’m too powerful for it to work on me. Anyways, I was wandering around looking for Michael so I could, I don’t know, yell at him or something, and then I found the guys beating the shit out of him so I chewed them out and brought Michael home to help him clean up. I took your car, sorry, I’ll pick you up at the end of school, okay?”

“Are you kidding me? You’re  _ taking care _ of him? Two days ago you were the one giving him the bruises!” She shouted.

“I know Ash, it’s a weird situation. I know! I don’t really know what to think either but those guys were in the wrong. Michael didn’t do anything!”

“Yeah, not this time. He still called me Gen X. Whatever, have fun with your new friend,” she muttered, hanging up. I swore as I grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and walked down the hall to the bathroom. Michael was looking down, and I could tell he’d probably heard at least my half of the call.

“Ashley mad?” He asked.

“Yeah. She hates you. With reason to be honest, you did insult her in a crowded hallway,” I said, handing him the ice pack.

“Yeah… Look, I really should go. Ashley obviously doesn’t want me here, and you don’t need to feel obligated to help me, okay? Thanks for getting me out of there, but you don’t owe me anything else I’m-”

“Michael, shut up. Just let me help you. It wouldn’t kill you to let someone be nice to you every once in awhile,” I said, pushing him back to sit on the edge of the counter again as he tried to stand.

“Sorry,” he paused, “I’m not used to it. Most people don’t really try,” he muttered. He seemed to have given up and stayed sitting as I finished cleaning up his face.

“I do still think you’re kind of a dick, though. You’ve got some apologizing to do to get in my good graces,” I said.

“What have I actually done wrong? I mean, the thing with Ashley yeah, but what else have I ever actually  _ done _ to you? Besides the whole arguing your points in classes. Which, yeah, I did it to be annoying, but that was more like just harmless teasing. I’ve never understood why you hate me as much as you do,” he said, eyes looking everywhere except at my eyes.

“I don’t hate you,” he gave me a look that said he was calling bullshit, “Okay, I  _ did  _ hate you, but I don’t anymore. And I just… You always acted to aloof, so above everyone. I’ve always thought that you think you’re above everyone else just because your powers are the strongest.” I was mumbling by the end of my explanation, not wanting to offend the already injured boy sitting in my bathroom.

“No, I never… I guess… I see why you’d think that I thought that, but I’ve never thought that. I hate these powers more than anything. I wish I hadn’t gotten these powers at all. If I didn’t have them then my--nevermind. But no, I’ve never thought that. Not once. I just, everyone has always loved you, Luke. From day one everyone has wanted to know you, to get a chance to be around you, me included. I was too shy, and then you scared me by coming over and I accidentally used my powers on you because I had no control over them, hell I shouldn’t have even  _ had _ them yet. And you had everyone wrapped around your finger, so when I hurt you everyone just decided that I was a little delinquent. After a while I just accepted it and decided to go all out,” he gestured to his eyebrow piercing and dyed hair, “I figured it was go big or go home, and I don’t have much of a place to live.”

After Michael’s story I was silent for a second, pretending to look around in the first aid kit as a distraction, but not really needing anything from it.

“You should take off your shirt,” I said. I glanced back to see Michael raising his eyebrows at me, obviously confused.

“I, uh, I mean I saw them punching you in the stomach and all,” I muttered, pulling out some bandages and a clean washcloth.

“Oh right. Yeah,” he said, laughing and trying to move around to take off his shirt, but wincing as he tried to move his sore body.

“Here, let me help,” I said, moving his arms above his head and pulling his shirt off gently. Once it was out of the way, I realized how close I was to Michael and flinched. He smiled a little, and I gave him a sheepish one in return.

“They really fucked me up this time didn't they?” He mused, laughing tightly.

“Fucked you up better than I did that's for sure,” I joked. He let out a real laugh at that and touched his eye.

“Yeah, this is all you did to me. I messed up your face a little, didn't I?” He asked, biting his lip.

“Yeah, nothing I've never dealt with,” I said, “this one time, my brother Jack ‘accidentally’ pushed me down the stairs. I busted up my face, and I don't think he'll ever live it down.”

“I remember him a little. He was the head of the soccer team, right?”

“Yeah, he loves it.” From there, the conversation flowed easily again as I told stories about my family, and Michael teased me about my fondness over them. Once he was all fixed up I helped him put his shirt back on and helped him to my room. I threw on some music and we listened, occasionally commenting on our favorite songs for a while before I realized it was almost time for school to get out. I stood up and began looking around the room for where I’d thrown my jacket, much to Michael’s confusion

“I’ve gotta go pick up Ashley now. Do you want me to drop you off at home or?” I asked, hesitating slightly and I shrugging into the sleeves of my jean jacket.

“Do you think I could come with you? I want to apologize to her. I really do feel bad about the other day,” he said, looking down guiltily.

“Yeah, that’d be great!” I said excitedly. Michael laughed at my enthusiasm, and I blushed. I knew that his laugh wasn’t mocking me though, it was too genuine, too full hearted to have any mean spirit behind it. He seemed to notice me watching him laugh as he quickly stifled it and followed me silently out of the house, a little slower than he usually would because of the injuries to his body. I helped him into the backseat, knowing that Ashley would be even more angry about this if he also took her spot in the front seat. I was waiting out in front of the school and watched as Ashley ran out. She spotted the car and gritted her teeth as she stormed over. She slammed open the car door, and I could tell she was about to start screaming.

“Luke, what the fuck is the matter with--” she cut herself off as she noticed Michael in the backseat. He gave her a slightly sheepish smile before flicking his glance to me, showing the worry in his eyes.

“I'm thinking milkshakes,” I said quietly as I peeled out of the parking lot. There was a minute of tense silence before Michael decided to speak.

“I’m really sorry for the other day, Ashley. I never should've called you Gen X. I know it's an insult, and I was just trying to get to Luke. It was childish and dumb of me, and I'm really sorry you got caught in the crosshairs of a dumb feud,” he said, rushing his words to make sure he got all of them in. Ashley paused for a minute, biting her lip and weighing her options of what to say next.

“Okay. I'll accept it. Don't let it happen again, asshole,” she muttered, smiling a little bit. We pulled into a McDonald’s and got fries and milkshakes before driving to a park a little ways outside of the main part of the town. We climbed out and sat at a picnic table, still in a slightly tense silence.

“So, Michael, what's the deal with you?” Ashley asked, sticking a fry in her mouth.

“Ash, what are you-” I started before Michael cut me off with a laugh.

“I assume you're referring to the fact that I've been an asshole to Luke for years and suddenly he’s cleaning me up and buying me fries?” He asked. Ashley nodded, waiting for a response.

“Well, I don’t think we ever had an actual proper conversation before we were stuck in detention. He assumed that I thought I was better than everyone else, and I assumed that he wasn’t as nice as he seemed to act all the time. So we were stuck in detention and we had an actual conversation and realized that we aren’t as different as we originally believed we were,” he explained as if it was a dumb argument we got into once, not twelve years worth of them.

“Lukey I’ve always told you you need to work on your communication,” she joked, kicking me under the table. I rolled my eyes and the conversation flowed more easily from there. Michael mentioned hearing her sing after school in the music room and from there Ashley went on and on about her music and her idea of what kind of artist she wants to be once she gets out of this town, and Michael and I just contributed nods and “yeahs” until I realized how late it was. The three of us climbed back into the car, Ashley regaining her usual spot in the driver’s side and Michael calling shotgun, leaving me crammed into the back. Michael gave Ashley directions to his apartment, and when we dropped him off he waved as he got out of the car and tried to walk to the house without looking like he was in pain, even though he obviously was.

“What happened today? I mean, I know you skipped and all because Michael got beat up, but like… Your powers work in the detention room? Really?”

“I don’t know, Ash… I’m still trying to figure it out myself,” I muttered, struggling to explain the way I’d acted today to myself, let alone someone else. She must have taken that for an acceptable answer for now since she peeled out of the spot we’d stopped in, and I looked back to catch Michael watching us until we were out of sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hoped you liked that, if you did you should comment because I love getting comments it's the best thing ever. Sorry again for taking so long to update, I worked a bunch last week and I met someone so that's kinda time consuming, y'know, young love and all that lol. I'm going to try to update again this week before I go back to college and have 0 time ever lol.  
> Follow me on tumblr/send me asks if you want that'd be pretty cool: lukesnotpunk.tumblr.com


	4. Welcome to the Party

Chapter Four: Welcome to the Party

That night I was trying to do the homework Ashley had given me (after telling the school I had gotten sick and gone home) even though it was a Friday because there was no way in hell I was going to hang out with Calum or Ashton, and I needed something to take my mind off what was going on with Michael and the fact that I had just chosen him over the kids who had been my best friends for my entire life. Around nine I finally gave up, throwing my textbook across the room with more force than intended. A second later there was a knock on my door, and my mom opened it tentatively.

“How’re you doing sweetheart,” she asked gently, leaning against the doorframe.

“Honestly not great… Everything is just a mess, mom. And I don’t know how to sort things out.”

“Well, I know that you fixed someone up in that bathroom. I don’t know who it was, or who beat them up, but judging by the towel I had to throw away because of the blood stains, they were in pretty bad shape. And I’m guessing Calum and Ashton had something to do with it because usually you’d be at one of their houses playing videogames right now,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Your mom senses are working really well today,” I joked. She raised her eyebrow, waiting for some sort of an explanation. I sighed before giving her the basic run down of the day’s events, trying to stay as non-offensive as possible, and I avoided mentioning Michael since I’d done nothing but bad mouth him my entire life.

“Luke that’s… That’s horrible! You have to tell someone, they can’t get away with that!”

“But they can, mom! Michael isn’t going to say anything against them because the school won’t do shit.”

“Michael? Clifford? The boy you’ve hated for your entire life? The one who you got in a fight with two days ago?”

“Yeah, him. He’s just… Not the same as I thought he was, mom. He’s really not the bad guy I’ve made him out to be over the years.” She paused for a moment before deciding to let it go with a sigh.

“What about his parents?”

“He doesn’t have any. Not here at least. No one has ever asked, we all just kind of assumed that he was one of the kids who was deserted when their family was faced with the idea of having to move.”

“That’s horrible… But you should tell him that he needs to say something. Otherwise it won’t just stop,” she said, straightening herself up and getting ready to leave.

“Yeah, you’re right… I’ll say something to him whenever I talk to him,” I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

“If you need to talk again, just come to me, alright sweetheart? I’m here for you,” she walked over and opened her arms, ushering me into a hug.

“Thanks mom,” I mumbled into the top of her head. I had grown taller than her about a year earlier, and I still wasn’t used to the way that her hugs couldn’t envelope me like they had when I was younger. She pulled away after a second and smiled knowingly before leaving my room. Not even a second later the door reopened and Ashley appeared, looking excited and breathless.

“You wanna go to a party?” She asked, smiling widely.

“I don’t know, Ash. I don’t think I’m the right state of mind to--”

“Okay, let me rephrase that. We’re going to a party. You can drink, I won’t, but we have to go. Please,” she begged, a pleading look on her face.

“Fine… Why do you want to go so bad anyways?” I asked. A blush immediately spread across her face, and I laughed.

“Oh, is Josh going to be there?” I asked, smirking at her.

“Shut up,” she mumbled, sticking her tongue out at me before leaving to go back to her room. I laughed and glanced around my room for something to wear. After eventually settling on black skinny jeans and a flannel that looked clean. After quickly styling my hair into something acceptable looking I knocked on Ashley’s door. She opened it up with a wide smile on her face and a guitar in her hand.

“Are you going to be that asshole playing wonderwall?” I asked jokingly. She rolled her eyes as she walked past me, expecting me to follow.

“No, Josh asked me to play a little with him. He’s a drummer, you know,” She said, smirking over her shoulder at me.

“Oh, Josh, your true love, right,” I teased as we walked downstairs.

“Where are you two going?” My dad asked, glancing up with a stern look from whatever movie he was watching and taking in our appearances.

“We’re just going to hang out with some friends. We’ll be back before you get up,” Ashley said with a bubblegum sweet smile as we walked by him. His stern look crumbled into a fond smile and he chuckled as she ran out.

“Make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble,” he said, and I nodded with a slight smile as I passed him to follow Ashley out.

 

<><><>

It was half an hour into the party at Josh’s, and I regretted letting Ashley talking me into coming out. Everyone from school was here, since Josh was friends with basically everyone whether they had powers or not. People’s powers were stunted by alcohol, and there was enough pumping through the blood of everyone at this party to keep everyone pretending we wouldn’t separate ourselves again first thing tomorrow morning. Calum, Ashton, and Jackson were sitting across the room from me, and I could feel their frequent glances in my direction, but I tried to ignore the feeling as I knocked back drink after drink. I was sitting in a circle of gen x kids all jamming on instruments, using the music as a pretend distraction from my “friends.” Until I felt a tap on the shoulder of course.

“Hey, Luke, can we talk?” Jackson asked, Calum and Ashton just behind him. I swigged down the rest of the drink in my hand quickly before nodding and standing up. I swayed a little bit, and Jackson grabbed my arm, worry in his eyes. The four of us walked out to the backyard where it was a little bit quieter, and I wished I had another drink to distract from the awkward atmosphere.

“Look, Luke… I’m sorry about today. We really thought Michael was just being a dick and taking advantage of how nice you were to mess with you or something,” Ashton said. I nodded, not actually responding for a minute. Before I had a chance to Jackson shook his head and let out an angry huff of air.

“You know what? I’m not sorry. Clifford has been an asshole for years, and now it finally came to blows. He isn’t going to ever mess with any of us again, isn’t that a good thing?” He said, crossing his arms.

“No, it isn’t a good thing. I actually talked to him for the first time in… god knows how long. He isn’t that bad, really,” I said, crushing my empty cup in my hand unintentionally, and only realizing what I’d done when I heard the crumpling of the red plastic.

“Okay, we’ll apologize to him on Monday, does that sound good?” Ashton asked, taking a step forward. I took a deep breath before nodding.

“He’s really not as bad as I always thought he was,” I said. Jackson rolled his eyes and stormed off, much to Ashton and Calum’s obvious disapproval.

“We tried to get him to not be a dick, but you know how he is,” Calum muttered, watching as Jackson slammed the back door of the house shut.

“Yeah, whatever. He’ll have to get over it,” I muttered, looking down at the cup in my hand.

“Let’s go do shots, yeah?” Ashton said, a smile crossing his face. I laughed and nodded before following him and Calum into Josh’s crowded kitchen. We did a series of shots in quick succession and I could feel the vodka warming my stomach nicely, tension seeming to leave my body and mind entirely. After one of them, a hand clapped on my shoulder, and I turned to see a guy from my English class behind me.

“Hemmings! There’s a rumor going around that your powers aren’t stunted by the detention room. Is that true?” He asked, sounding much more sober than me.

“Yeah. Me and Michael are too strong for our powers to work in there,” I slurred.

“What about drunk? Do your powers still work?” He asked. I shrugged and tried to turn back around, but he turned me back to face him again.

“Try it out, oh mighty one. If you’re so much stronger than us, let’s see it,” he said, a smirk on his face.

“Hey, Trent, leave him alone,” Ashton said, trying to steer clear of this weird standoff.

“Nah it’s fine. Let’s see if I can,” I muttered, drawing up any strength to make myself invisible. I felt the odd tingling sensation spreading through my body, and I knew I’d succeeded.

“Fucking hell. How many shots has he done?” Trent asked.

“I don’t know man. Enough that he shouldn’t be able to use his powers, that’s for sure. Luke, you can reappear now,” Calum said, reaching out to where he thought I was, but missing me by a few inches. I tried to do what he said, but my mind was too fuzzy to do what I was supposed to do.

“Can’t do it,” I said, laughing a little.

“What do you mean you can’t?” Ashton asked, panic in his voice.

“I dunno. Can’t. Want another shot,” I said, wanting to get rid of the slight anxiety that was arising in my chest. I should be able to become visible, but I couldn’t and my alcohol filled brain couldn’t figure out if that was a bad thing or not.

“Fucking hell where’s Ashley? We’ve gotta get him out of here,” Ashton said, reaching out for me.

“No, I’m fine. She’s with Josh or something. I’m gonna walk. I’ll see you later, bye!” I said, beginning to walk out of the party, causing Calum and Ashton to protest. They tried to follow me, shouting my name and walking outside, but they couldn’t see me so they didn’t really know which way I was going. I started walking down the street, not quite recognizing the neighborhood, but wandering all the same. I came across a familiar looking apartment building, and I realized it was where I’d dropped off Michael earlier. I walked up to the door and looked for his name on the list of people living there, automatically beginning to ring his bell once I found it.

“Who the fuck is there,” A groggy Michael muttered through the speaker a few moments later. I quickly found the button to press to speak, hitting it excitedly.

“Michael! It’s Luke. I was walking by and I thought you lived here. Hi! Hello!” I said, giggling between words.

“Luke are you drunk?”

“Yeah!”

“Where are your friends?”

“They’re still at the party. I left the party. Ashley was supposed to drive me but I wanted to leave and she wasn’t ready so I just left on my own and--”

“Do you want to come in?” He said, sighing heavily.

“You don’t have to be nice to me just because I’m drunk,” I said, hiccuping at the end of my phrase.

“I’m not. I’ll buzz you in, take the elevator up to the seventh floor. That’s where I live, I’ll come get you from there, okay?”

“Okey dokey,” I said. Once the door made a loud beeping noise I walked in, pushing the button to the elevator. There was a concierge at a desk, but he was half asleep and didn’t notice things moving on their own, and if he did he probably thought he was dreaming. Once I got up to Michael’s floor the doors open, and a look of confusion was spread across his face.

“Hi Michael!” I said happily, stumbling forward into him. He winced and took a step back, causing me to nearly fall over.

“Luke, why don’t you become visible,” he said, speaking as though I was a small child.

“I tried, but I can’t. There was a guy at the party and he told me he knew the detention room didn’t work on me and said to try my powers while drunk, so I did! I think the last shot hit after I became invisible, so it made my powers pause or something. So I’m just invisible,” I said, giggling.

“Okay… Just follow me we’ll go to my apartment. Do you want some water or something?” He asked.

“Do you have any vodka?” This made him laugh as I followed him down the hall to his apartment. He shushed me multiple times, but I just ignored him in favor of rambling on about the party. Once we were in his apartment he gestured to his couch, and I immediately fell onto it.

“I’m gonna get you some water, I can hear you from the kitchen so just keep talking, okay?” He said. I nodded before realizing that he couldn’t see me and laughing.

“I don’t know why my powers work. They really shouldn’t. It doesn’t make sense why they’re so strong. They’re useless anyways. I mean, what can I really do for the world by being invisible? Nothing. I can just disappear. I guess it’s nice because sometimes I just disappear to see if anyone will notice. Sometimes they do,” I said, revealing things I didn’t while sober.

“Sometimes?” Michael asked, appearing with a glass of water, unsurely holding it out in front of him. I took it from his hands, making sure I had a good grip on it. It turned invisible once I had it in both of my hands, and I sighed, hoping I didn’t spill it.

“Sometimes I walk around between classes just behind my friends and they don’t notice that I’m not there. Sometimes I do it at lunch too. I guess they think that I’m in the bathroom or something, but if I reappear they never notice either. I dunno, it’s a dumb game I started playing when I got my powers, but it makes me sad now. I try not to play it, it just makes me think that no one would miss me,” I said, pausing to sip the water Michael brought me.

“Luke, I… I would notice if you were gone. I know we hated each other until like yesterday, but I would miss you,” he said.

“Thanks, Mikey,” I said, pulling the water away from my mouth. I could see the glass, and I smiled as the tingling sensation took over my body, signalling that I’d become visible again.

“Thank god. It wouldn’t do us any good for you to have been stuck as an invisible boy, would it have?”

“I suppose it wouldn’t,” I said, setting down the glass on the coffee table in front of me. Every normal action took an exceeding amount of effort to complete.

“Luke, your phone is ringing,” he said after a moment of silence. It took me a second to realize that I’d completely zoned out and he was right, my phone was going off in my pocket. I answered it as quickly as I could, but I still felt like everything was a little hazy. As I pressed the green button to answer the call I could already hear Ashley’s tense voice coming out of the speaker.

“--can’t just disappear like that! Are you okay? Where are you?

“I’m at Michael’s apartment. He gave me water. I’m visible again, everything’s okay. I’m with Michael, so it’s okay.” I could hear her sighing in relief, and voices in the background asking if she’d gotten a hold of me.

“Thank god. Calum and Ashton are so fucking wasted that it took them almost half an hour to find me. Do you want me to come pick you up?”

“I dunno. I wanna talk to Michael more. He’s cool,” I said. This made Michael laugh, but he tried to stifle it when I pouted at him.

“Can I talk to Michael really quick?” She asked.

“Be nice!” I said as I handed Michael the phone. I was half listening to his part of the conversation as well as focusing on drinking some more of my water. After a minute, Michael held out my phone, and I took it back. Ashley was still on the phone, so I waited for her to say something.

“I’ll pick you up in the morning, okay?”

“Sounds good, Ashy. Have fun with Josh,” I teased, stretching out Josh’s name as I said it.  She groaned before saying a quick goodbye and hanging up.

“Luke, why did you come here?” Michael asked once I’d put my phone down.

“I don’t know. I left the party and I started walking and I didn’t know where I was, but then I saw your building and I wanted to come say hi to you,” I said.

“Alright… Well, you should probably go to sleep now. I’m gonna go grab you a blanket or something, you can sleep out here alright?”

“Okey dokey,” I said, giggling as Michael left the room. He returned and wordlessly handed me a blanket, and for the first time I realized how tired he looked.

“M’sorry I woke you up,” I mumbled before he could turn away.

“It’s okay, Luke. I don’t mind,” he said, a small smile gracing his lips before he turned and left the room. Once I was alone I made myself as comfortable as I could be on the couch and quickly fell into a drunken sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow I am the worst!!!! Sorry it took me so long to update guys, I've been really trying to finish up this chapter, but I started college again last week and I'm so fucking busy already.  
> I hope you liked the chapter though! The story is about to start picking up so I hope you're all excited!  
> As always comments are always appreciated here or via ask on my blog lukesnotpunk.tumblr.com :)


	5. Welcome to the New Normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM THE WORST BUT I'VE PICKED BACK UP THIS STORY  
> I'm going to actually finish it I promise, or may my vocal chords be ripped out by wolves.

Chapter Five: Welcome to the New Normal

I woke up to the smell of burning toast and muttered swearing coming from somewhere behind me. I slowly opened my eyes, wincing a bit at the pounding in my head and the soreness in my body. As I sat up I stretched my body, wincing at the pops and cracks it made from sleeping on an uncomfortable couch. Once I felt a little more awake I tried to stand up, only to get light headed and crash back onto the couch.

“Look who’s finally awake,” Michael said, materializing next to the couch before I could even hear him moving.

“Yeah, unfortunately awake…” I paused, not knowing how to react after being so frank the night before, “I’m sorry about showing up last night.”

“I really don’t care, Luke. You were funny once you weren’t anxiously invisible anymore.”

“Right… Fuck. Last night was a fucking mess. I have to call Ashley… And Calum and Ashton…” I saw a brief look of discomfort cross his face when I mentioned them, and I cursed my carelessness.

“They promised that they’re going to apologize Monday. They were huge assholes, but they mean well. Just trying to protect me or some shit,” I muttered the last part, ashamed that Michael had been injured solely because of me.

“I know you’ve been friends with them for forever, Luke. I get it,” he said, turning to walk back into the kitchen. I caught a glimpse of his face, and I saw that he was definitely upset with me bringing them up.

“No, really, Michael, wait,” I stood up and grabbed his shoulder, causing him to spin around and look at me, “If they hadn’t seen that hurting you was the worst possible fucking thing they could’ve done, then I wouldn’t have forgiven them. Honestly.” I hoped that he could hear the sincerity in my voice, and after a moment of eye contact he sighed and nodded.

“I believe you.” With that he continued walking towards the kitchen, only stopping when he reached the counter with two plates on it. He held one out to me, and I took it before observing the piece of toast charred around the edges and eggs.

“It’s all I know how to make, besides cereal. Hope you like burned toast,” he said, a shy smile playing on his lips.

“Love it,” I joked back. We kept up a steady conversation while we ate as Michael asked me about the party and what everyone had gotten up to.

“You should come out to the next one,” I said, biting into the crunchy edge of my toast and hiding the slight grimace I wanted to let loose at the taste.

“Except I’m a social pariah and everyone would immediately want to kick me out,” he said, bitterly looking away.

“Well, if you’re there with me no one would dare say a word. You saw how protective my friends can get firsthand. And if you’re there with me, you’re there with all of us,” I said, glancing up at his face quickly, but not quite making eye contact. I realized I hadn’t even thought of my phone since waking up, and I quickly looked around the couch to locate it halfway underneath it. I saw a few missed calls from Ashton and Calum, as well as a text from Ashley saying to text her when I wanted to be picked up. I shot back a text saying whenever was convenient for her worked for me, and she immediately replied that she was just leaving to go get food and she’d pick me up on the way. Michael cleaned up, taking out our dishes to the kitchen and returning with water and motrin for my hangover, and I smiled gratefully.

My phone started vibrating, signalling that Ashley was calling me. I picked it up and she muttered about being out front, and I said I’d be down in a minute before hanging up.

“Hey man, Ashley is here,” I said, standing and looking around before realizing I was already holding everything I’d brought with me.

“Alright, I’ll see you Monday then.”

“Yeah. Thanks again for letting me stay here, and sorry I just crashed in so late.”

“Yeah no problem,” he said as he walked me to the door, waving as I left. When I’d gotten downstairs and crawled into Ashley’s car, she looked like she was going to kill me.

“Uh, good morning?”

“Good morning? Are you kidding me? You literally fucking disappear from that party and end up at Michael’s with barely a call, and that’s your line? Good morning?” It was obvious she exhausted, and I felt bad.

“Yeah, I’m sorry Ash. It was a total accident. Did I fuck things up with you and Josh?”

“Yeah, kind of. We were about to hook up when Calum and Ashton burst in and told me what had happened. Calum looked like I shot his goddamn puppy,” she said as she restarted the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

“He’s still convinced he’s in love with you. He’ll get over it, probably.”

“Oh right. God he needs to get over himself.”

We rode in comfortable silence, only broken up by the soft hum of the alternative radio station until we arrived at a bagel shop for breakfast.

“So how did you even end up at Michael’s?” She asked as we waited in line to order, her foot tapping to the cheesy song playing on the loudspeaker.

“I honestly could not tell you. I was walking away from the party and I happened to pass it so I rung his doorbell until he woke up.” I scanned the menu to avoid her prying eyes. They always seemed to find something in my expressions that I hadn’t realized was there before.

“Huh. Weird.” She let the conversation fall after that, and I knew her silence meant she was thinking, but I couldn’t bring myself to ask her what was running through her mind.

<> <> <>

Monday morning came after two days of the usual. Ashton and Calum came over on Saturday night and we acted like there wasn’t any awkward tension, the only clue that something was wrong was Jackson’s absence and Ashton mentioning that they would talk to him about apologizing to Michael with them. As I walked into English I was surprised to see Michael already in the classroom, sitting in his usual seat in the back. My glance flicked to where I usually say before I decided to choose the seat next to Michael, breaching the usual one desk radius around him in classes. Everyone had been silent as I approached him, but once I took my seat and smiled at him, earning one in return, everyone broke out into hushed whispers. I tried to ignore it, but I couldn’t get over the looks everyone was giving me. They looked confused and kind of angry. I know that everyone “hated” Michael because we didn’t get along, and now it was as though I was breaching an unwritten contract and everyone wanted to cash in on their compensation for my betrayal.

“Michael, is this always what it’s like?”

“Depends. This is a particularly bad day, but usually it’s some degree of this.”

I felt like the room was tighter, everything was too close and warm and bright. I tried to steady my breathing as I pulled out my things for class, but it wasn’t really working.

“Luke, are you okay?” Michael asked, reaching down to pick up a pen I’d dropped out of my shaky hands.

“I’m not… It’s never been like this, everyone is always… I never knew people got like this,” I said, not knowing how to properly explain what I was feeling.

“Let’s go,” he murmured, glancing at the clock that indicated we had two minutes until class started.

“What? We can’t just--we’ll get in trouble Michael!” He had already begun to pack up his things, but my head was still spinning from the whispers and the glances and the idea of skipping school even though I wasn’t sick.

“Luke, make us invisible right now no one is looking. Come on, quick!” I panicked and did what he said, instantly feeling a rush of adrenaline at breaking the rules. I made sure that all of our stuff had also disappeared, and I heard Michael knock into something as he grabbed where he thought his backpack was. We went towards the door, taking quiet footsteps so that no one would notice where we were going.

<> <> <>

By the time we were outside, pulling out of the parking lot I was grinning from ear to ear.

“This is like… Wow. I’ve never just, like, skipped school before. This is so… weird. But definitely awesome,” I said, a nervous laugh sneaking out of my mouth. Michael laughed along with me, a wide smile on his face from watching me.

“Well, sorry to corrupt you, kid,” he teased, leaning back and running a hand through his hair, which was being blown all over by the crazy wind.

“Throw on some music. Where do you want to go?”

“I’ll put the GPS on my phone, it’ll be a couple of hours,” he said, one of his hands running up and down the seam on his jeans and the other scrolling through his phone to punch in the address of wherever we were going. Flashes of moments stood out on the car ride: Michael laughing at the dumb joke I’d just made; Michael putting on his favorite song and singing along with it so intensely I had to fight to keep my eyes off of him and on the highway; Michael getting quieter once we were on the last five minutes of our journey. Once we pulled into the cemetery, I had a pretty good idea why he had gotten quiet. I parked the car, sharing in his somber silence.

He climbed out of the car and I silently locked it, fumbling a little bit with the keys as I followed him. I shoved my hands into my pockets, telling myself it was because of the chill in the October air, but I knew it was to hide the slight shake in them. Michael walked down a dirt path between the graves, knowingly taking every turn. All of the carefree laughter that had floated around us in the car seemed to have turned into lead, dragging on my heels as I walked after him. He stopped after walking for a few minutes and stopped in front of a large gravestone engraved with three names.

Rest in Peace those taken from us too soon

Loving Mother Karen Clifford 1965-2000

Caring Father Daryl Clifford 1964-2000

Joyful Child Hayley Clifford 1997-2000

 

We stood there in silence for a minute before Michael turned to me, his lips slightly parted, but the faraway look in his eyes told me no words would come out. I took a step closer and held my arms out, waiting for Michael to take a step forward, but not wanting to push him into it. He really didn’t need much prompting as he stepped toward me, wrapping his arms around me and burying his face into my shoulder. I could feel that he was crying, not a lot, but just the few tears that always trickle out of eyes at the signs of overwhelming emotion.

When he pulled away he took a deep breath and sat down, patting the ground next to him. I took a seat, crossing my too-long legs over each other in an attempt not to encroach on Michael’s space too much.

“I was four,” he started as I silently kept my eyes on the grass, perfectly manicured so that mourners never had to worry about whether or not their loved ones were being treated right, “and I got my powers. No one could figure out how it was even possible for it to manifest so strongly when I was so young. Everyone else got their powers during puberty, it didn’t make sense. Mom and dad… They didn’t want to move to Camelot. Some people had just come over to observe and poke and prod at me, and I was throwing a tantrum. I was just being a kid, you know? But being a kid is dangerous when you’re so powerful, you can’t control it and I, I just… I was throwing stuff around, and there was a candle, and I knocked it over, and no one noticed until it had already gotten too bad, and I didn’t know what was going on or I would’ve, I could’ve… I think I made the fire worse because I panicked, and my mom was running for my sister and my dad was telling me to get out of the apartment because it wasn’t safe, and he told me to fly out the window because we’d discovered I could do that, and… I just left them there. And they were the only ones who didn’t get out. No one really told me why they couldn’t get out, I don’t know… And then they sent me to Camelot and put me in that weird foster home with all the kids whose parents didn’t want them. And now, here I am.” His sentences had gotten more frantic, and his breath was completely gone by the end of the story. He looked at me, and his eyes were full of so much sadness I had to reach forward and hold his hand, just to have some way of telling him I was here, and I didn’t know what to say, but I wanted to say it.

“I’m… I’m so sorry, Michael. You shouldn’t, it wasn’t your fault. No one could’ve seen it coming, and you were only five, throwing a temper tantrum is completely normal,” I said. I couldn’t look at him in the eye, but I hoped my words had been enough.

“But I wasn’t normal, I’m still not normal, I’m completely fucked over by whatever goddamn scientist decided to do this to us. My life was ruined by them, isn’t that so fucked up? And they have the audacity to call it a gift. To call me gifted, when all I am is a genetic monstrosity. What a joke.” He shook his head and let out a cruel laugh.

“Michael, I… I know exactly what you’re feeling,” I said, the blood rushing through my veins becoming hot as I thought about the people who had done this to us, who had cursed my siblings and killed Michael’s family and all in the pursuit of what? Bragging rights?

Michael turned to look at me and I finally stopped avoiding his gaze. There was so much fire, but so much sadness. We both had it, a drive to do something, to  _ be _ something, but not what they wanted.

“Let’s go somewhere else, there’s an ice cream place down the street that’s pretty good,” he said, suddenly getting up and pulling me with him by our still interlocked hands. His eyes flicked down to where we were touching and he quickly dropped the contact once we were standing, a hint of pink finding its way onto his cheeks. We walked silently towards the shop Michael mentioned, and I thought for the first time since we left to check my phone. There were missed calls from all of my friends, the school, Ashley, and my parents. I knew I should probably call someone back, but all I did was send a short text to Ashley telling her that I was in fact okay, and hadn’t been feeling well this morning. She replied quickly with “be safe” because she could see right through my lie and Michael’s coincidental absence. I knew I would get hell from her later for making her cover without warning, but once I explain she’ll probably chill. I turned my phone off before tucking it away in my pocket.

Michael had been watching my actions and bit his lip before saying, “Is everyone asking where you are?” I nodded and he grimaced.

“Don’t feel bad, I would’ve been so miserable at school today,” I rushed out, not wanting him to know that I was going to get in trouble with basically everyone I know. This day was worth it.

“Here we are,” he muttered as we got to the ice cream shop he’d been talking about. We barely spoke as we ordered and sat down.

“I was in third grade the first time that one of my siblings came home with bruises. It was Jack, and he’d been beat up by the first round of the strength specializers because he’d come up with a good play for soccer and they hadn’t thought of it. He came home covered in bruises and almost quit soccer on the spot. You know, he’d been on the same teams as these kids since we moved here because they hadn’t had their powers show up yet. But once they did, they immediately thought they were so much better than him, but it’s just… It’s ridiculous. My mom managed to get him not to quit, but when she called the school they just… they wouldn’t do anything. They said it was ‘natural’ for the gen a kids to want to be superior, it was literally in their genetic makeup. After that it became kind of normal. When Ben tried to stick up for him… That was bad. I guess everyone always thought I was a golden boy because I was so nice to everyone, but really I just wanted everyone to like me so they’d be nice to my siblings. I hate these dumb genetic modifications and I just… If I could have stopped this from happening to me I would’ve, you know?” I said all of this with no prompting, but it felt like the only thing that could possibly break the odd tension that had risen between us.

“So, we could always overthrow the government?” He said, a smile working its way across his face.

“Yeah, I think that would work.” We both broke out into laughter, earning a glare from an old woman with a little girl at the table next to us. There was a TV in the corner with a rerun of an old cartoon, and we started talking about that and whatever else came to mind, finally returning to the happiness that had enveloped us in the car.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SO I hope you liked that chapter and it makes up for the fact that I'm a horrible human being! If you like it then leave a comment bc it'll get me more inspired to continue writing!! Thanks for reading!


	6. Welcome to the Beginning of the End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to try to update on Mondays, so we'll see what happens from now on!

By the end of the day, I’d forgotten the entire reason why I’d wanted to skip school in the first place. When we pulled back up to the school to pick up Ashley I was laughing at Michael’s impression of Patrick Stump, and I could see that class had just gotten out. As Michael climbed into the back I looked out the window and saw all of the looks that I was getting, but I decided to ignore them, and as soon as Ashley was in the car I peeled out of the parking lot. I told Ashley surface level details about our day on the drive to Michael’s apartment, but once he got out and I pulled away I knew she had a million questions.

“What the hell was that today Luke? Why did you actually leave, and where did you go? And… why?”

“I got into class and sat next to Michael and everyone was just… looking at me like I had grown a second head or become the devil or something, and I just… I couldn’t do it. Michael took one look at me and said we were skipping. We went to where he grew up, and he showed me his family’s grave and we just walked around and I don’t know, it was… a good day,” I said, very intently keeping my focus on the familiar drive home.

“You… His family’s grave?” Her nails clicked against the vinyl of the seat as she grabbed onto it to readjust so she could intently stare at me.

“They… They died in an accident when he was really young, and he blames himself. I’ve never seen him like that he was just, so, so… vulnerable.” I spared a glance toward her as I pulled into our neighborhood and knew there was no way this conversation would stay in the car like I wanted it to.

“You like him,” she said matter of factly as I put the car in park. She immediately skipped out of the car and into the house, and I was left with her words hanging around me. Once I got my mind together and got into the house, I immediately went to go to Ashley’s room, but before I could get two steps into the house my mom was yelling at me.

“You can’t just disappear like that! We get a call from the school, ‘Luke hasn’t shown up for any classes, have you seen him? Is he sick?’ And nothing! Not even a warning! And you only respond to Ashley, really? Luke I was worried sick! All you said was that you were fine and didn’t feel well! Do you know what it was like to come home to an empty house when I expected to find you sick in bed? Where were you? Off with that Clifford boy? You hated him last week! You can’t do things like this, Luke! You can’t!” She rushed forward and pulled me into her arms, and I was left with my mouth slightly open as I wrapped my arms around her in return.

“I’m sorry, mom. I didn’t… School was too much today. I couldn’t deal with the stares and the whispers and I had to get out of there, but I was too paralyzed and Michael got me out when I really needed it, it won’t happen again, I promise,” I said, still holding her. I missed the days when her hugs enveloped me more than ever. She took a step back, hurriedly wiping the tears from under her eyes.

“I don’t care if you skip school for a reason like that, Luke. I care that you didn’t tell me. You should’ve told me or your dad or Ashley as soon as you left, and I would’ve been able to breathe easy all day,” she said, finally letting go the last of her anger. 

I knew it had been an outburst of anxiety and fear that had caused her to say this, and even though I wanted to be annoyed I swallowed my pride and said, “I’m sorry mom. Really, I am. I’ll tell you next time, I promise.”

“Okay, baby. Now go off to wherever you were running when you got in the house. God knows you’ll be getting the ninth degree from Ashley,” she joked, her eyes still red and her throat still dry, cracking on a few of the words tumbling past her lips. I smiled at her before turning and walking as normally as possible until I was out of sight, then sprinting to Ashley’s room. I found that she was there, laying on her bed and looking up at the ceiling. She patted the spot next to her, and I immediately dropped my backpack and lay down next to her.

“I don’t know if you’re right,” I said, giving up on the other responses brewing inside my head, such as “of course I like him, he’s my friend” and “what, no I don’t like him.” I didn’t have a definitive answer just yet, but I knew that if I had to question if it was true, then there was something to think about.

“I know, feelings are weird. You know you can talk to me about it, I won’t really make fun of you. Other than when I have to, as obligated by being your older sister,” she joked, looking at me with a smile burning in her eyes.

“Yeah yeah yeah, big difference two minutes makes, all the wisdom in the world was departed to you in that time,” I responded, the same smile on my face.

“Do you think you’ll tell him?” She asked as she turned her head again to look at the ceiling

“Maybe, if I figure it out ever. And if he feels the same. If I even feel something, I don’t really know.” The words rolled off my tongue too quickly, completely overpassing my brain.

“Okay, bro, whatever you say. Now, I’ve got a new song to show you, so close your eyes, shut up, and listen,” she said excitedly, jumping over me off of the bed to grab her guitar with the faded front, strumming out to the chords to a song I had a feeling would become familiar to me.

<> <> <>

The next day before school I stared into the mirror for much longer than I really needed to. Everything was changing so quickly, but I knew I had to face the music. My day of hooky with Michael had upped my amount of days out of class in a row, and I knew that even with a brain as over the top as mine I’d have to show up and listen in class in order to pass. By the time I got to school, I had a convincing enough faked smile plastered on my face. I walked directly to my locker with headphones in to block out the whispers I was sure were surrounding me. Hell, maybe they even forwent whispers and just talked since I was obviously not listening. The first period of the day passed easily enough, Michael was with me and I was able to ignore everyone’s weird looks enough to keep my anxiety down enough to avoid a panic attack. 

I parted with Michael and returned to my locker, my headphones still in my ears blasting the voice of Brendon Urie above all the noise I was sure was happening around me. The whispers that I had gone insane, that Michael was brainwashing me, that something was wrong--

I was startled out of my anxiety-ridden daydream by a hand on my shoulder. I turned to see Ashton, Calum, and Jackson standing in front of me, mixed expression on their faces. Calum and Ashton looked confused and maybe a little bit hurt, but nothing I couldn’t handle or hadn’t seen before. Jackson on the other hand looked  _ livid _ , and I had never seen a look on his face like that before. I let the fake smile fall off of my face and took out my headphones as I prepared to take whatever was coming.

“Where the fuck were you yesterday? Seriously? Did you just disappear with that Clifford kid? The ISS wasn’t enough alone time?” Jackson began, angrily yelling at me, though we were in the middle of a crowded hallway. I opened and closed my mouth a few times, but I knew that no words would come out. I didn’t know what to say to Jackson’s disproportionate anger.

“Jackson, calm down, it wasn’t that bad, he just needs to tell us what’s going--”

“Not that bad?” Jackson cut off Ashton, his breath coming out hot and angry and too close for comfort, “Luke just disappears with that freakshow that we’ve hated for years without a word and it’s not that bad? Seriously?”

Everyone was staring. There were no whispers, but only because everyone was too stunned by Jackson’s outburst to say anything. No one was moving, just staring on at us. I felt my anxiety levels rise to something I’d never felt in my entire life, and waves of my power began washing over me.

“Look at you, taking the easy way out, as per usual. What are you gonna do, go hide from us? We’re always here, Luke. You can’t get rid of us that easy,” Jackson snarled, his green eyes burning bright. I tried to become visible again, but to no avail.

“I can’t, I can’t stop it,” the bell rang and I turned my head towards where I had to go, “I have to get to class, bye.” I ran away before they could figure out that I was doing anything, and I went straight to my next class, sitting in my usual seat immediately. 

The teacher began attendance, as she did out of formality every day, and as she called Michael’s name he casually strolled in and called out a “here” as he took his seat, a lazy grin on his face. He turned towards my seat, and his face fell slightly when he saw I wasn’t there.

“Luke? Has anyone seen Luke today?”

“Here,” I called meekly, trying to not make it too obvious that I wasn’t in control of my powers, a feeling I hadn’t had for years. Michael’s head whipped towards my voice, astonishment on his face.

“Luke, you know you can’t use your powers in class, please become visible again,” she said, a bored tone to her voice as she continued her role call, expecting me to comply. I grabbed Michael’s arm across the aisle, my breath becoming shallow again.

“I can’t,” I whispered, and I couldn’t breathe properly, and the string of my words was unravelling at the ragged breaths in between each of them, “I can’t…  help… it. I…  I didn’t mean to… to use my powers and I… I don’t know how to shut them… off, I can’t do it… I need, I need help, I don’t know how to, I--”

“Luke, what do you mean you don’t have control? What happened?”

“Michael, I don’t know how to--I can’t stop my powers, Jackson was yelling at me, and I don’t know how to, and I’m stuck. I’m stuck, and I can’t breathe and they  _ don’t care, _ Jackson was my best friend yesterday and today he just screamed at me about how I always take the easy way out!”

“He did  _ what _ ? He can’t treat you like that! Are you kidding Luke?” Michael asked, anger rising in his voice.

“Why would I lie?” Was all I could choke out. The look on Michael’s face was as though the entirety of earth had frozen over, and Michael was about to go to Hell to bring back fire to melt it all.

Suddenly the empty desks in the back of the room slammed out of Michael’s way as he rose, power burning in his eyes.

“Michael, no!” I shouted, but it was too late. He was already stalking out of the room, as everyone let out gasps, if they could even managed anything past a slack-jawed expression of shock. I ran out of the room after him, but I knew there was no stopping him at this point. I’d never seen him so mad in my entire life, even with the years of hating each other, this was something completely different.

I tried, over and over and over, to make myself visible again, but no matter what I did I just couldn’t get out of it. I couldn’t shut off my powers, and I hated myself for it. Michael got to Jackson’s classroom and the door slammed open. Everyone’s head immediately whipped up, and Jackson’s jaw clenched at the sight of Michael. He stood up and walked to the front of the room as everyone else moved as far away from the altercation as possible. The teacher paused, hitting the panic button below her desk before running back towards the rest of the class, trying to shield them as though Michael and Jackson had any reason to hurt them too.

“Where’s Luke? Still pretending he can’t become visible?” Jackson asked, barking out a harsh laugh with it. Michael seemed frozen, paralyzed by his anger. I, however, surged forward to try to do something, anything, to him while he couldn’t see it coming. He staggered backwards when I pushed him, but it only made him angrier.

“Why are you mad, huh? Is it because I don’t spend every waking hour with you anymore? Because I have someone that you know has treated me better than you ever did, no matter how hard you tried?”

This was, in fact, the worst thing I could have possibly said. Jackson roared with anger and reached out towards me, managing to grab me by the shirt and throw me backwards. I hit the ground roughly, my cheek making impact with the corner of a desk, which skidded a few feet at the impact. I reached out towards Michael, who was barely a foot away from where I’d landed. My fingertips brushed his ankles and he looked down, his eyes wheeling all over the ground trying to find me, but to no avail. I felt something warm on my tongue and leaned forward to spit out the blood. When I looked back up, Michael’s face was pure venom, and I knew I would never want that emotion directed at me. 

He turned away marched forward, his eyes glowing with his power, and Jackson wasn’t on the ground anymore. 

“What are you doing, you freak? Let me down!” Jackson yelled, his arms trying to reach out to Michael. Michael responded by slamming him into the ceiling.

“The question is, Jackson, what are  _ you _ doing? And why? Luke is your goddamn friend you idiot. If you’re lucky enough to be friends with someone like him, why the hell would you hurt him? What’s wrong with you?” Jackson didn’t respond with words, but he used his power to draw water out of the air and shoot a stream at Michael. He was more annoyed than actually phased, and he slammed Jackson into the ceiling again to emphasize his point.

“I hope you know how useless that is against me right now,” he growled, taking a deep breath to prepare for whatever he was about to do next.

At that moment, Michael was tackled by the gym teacher for Gen A, a strength specializer from the first round of affected kids. Immediately Jackson fell to the ground, groaning in pain as his leg made a snapping noise from going down at an odd angle. Teachers started getting students out of the room, but I was stuck on the ground in the middle of the rush of confusion, and no one realized that I was there. No one realized and no one cared.

“Luke!” Michael yelled, his voice rising above the confused and panicked din of all the other voices. He was being picked up and dragged off towards the detention room. I followed as quickly as I could, spitting out blood along the way. Jackson was being pulled away on a stretcher, still groaning, but I felt no pity towards him, only burning hatred. 

I watched from the hall as they put Michael into the detention room and strapped down his arms, and as the principal yelled at him. I tried, over and over and over to become visible but all there was was power rushing through my veins and making my heart beat faster. I didn’t have a chance.

Once the principal and his small gang of teachers left, his eyes wheeled around the room, trying so hard to see me even though he knew he couldn’t. He stopped struggling, and I waited until they were down the hall to fully step into the room.

And I knew, I knew that my powers would work in the detention room, but I blindly hoped that maybe this time it could snap me out of it. It didn’t, and I knew it wouldn’t, but I still broke down. I sank down and sobs broke out of me.

“Luke? Luke, where are you? I can’t, I…” He stopped himself as he concentrated on undoing the complicated the restraints on his wrists. He floated out of the chair, away from the sensor, and blindly reached out for me. He eventually felt my hair and carefully knelt next to me as I reached out for him.

“Michael, what if I’m never visible again? What if I just… What if I can’t do it? What if I’m stuck like this forever?” He pulled me into his arms the best he could and murmured soothing things into my ear as I tried to breathe.

“Luke, just keep breathing and you’ll be fine, both of us, we’re going to be fine,” he said, his fingers carding through my hair and his breath sinking into the skin of my temple. He just breathed slowly, pulling me out of my panic. I felt my power come back into my control slowly, and after struggling I finally became visible.

“Michael, you… Thank you, I couldn’t--” I turned in Michael’s arms, facing him, and my words fell short of my mouth. His hands that hand been carding through my hair fell down to my cheeks, cupping my face as his eyes drank in my features.

“Luke, I was so… I…” He apparently couldn’t get his words together either. His eyes fell to my cheek, and he wiped away some of the blood that had been dripping from my mouth. There was anger in his eyes I didn’t want to see at this moment. Before I knew what I was doing, my fingers went to his chin, pushing it up so his eyes were staring into mine again.

“I’m fine, Michael, I’m going to be fine. They’re just bruises and cuts, and I can deal with that. I was just, I was scared I’d never be seen again, and I just… people would forget, and no one would care, and I know that doesn’t make sense, I  _ know _ that it’s dumb, but I just--” I cut off as Michael pressed his forehead to mine.

“I would never stop trying to help you, Luke. I promise,” he said, closing his eyes and leaning in to press his lips to mine.

I let myself sink into him, my hand on his chin going to the back of his head to pull him closer, and my other hand pulling on his shirt. Any distance felt like too much, and I needed him as close as possible. I’d never felt more visible in my entire life, nor had I ever felt so genuinely good. Michael kept his hands on the sides of my face, kissing me gently even though I wanted as much as I could get from him. I never wanted that moment to end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys liked that chapter! Things are about to get exciting so STAY TUNED.
> 
> Also your comments make my day! Also if you want to shoot me a message on tumblr my url is lukesnotpunk.tumblr.com. Thanks again for reading!


	7. The End of Normal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I don't know if you noticed but the tags changed! There is graphic depiction of violence in the beginning of this chapter, and if you want to avoid it, skip the section between the 3 less than signs,and 4 of them (it won't let me put them in the description sorry, but you'll see what I mean when you scroll down). I believe that you can skip that without missing too much of the plot, but if anything is unclear leave a comment and I'll clarify for you

As quickly as the thought had crossed my mind of living in this moment forever, the door suddenly slammed opened. We sprang apart, assuming it was the principal come in to talk to Michael again. Instead, we saw men armed with guns wearing all black kevlar uniforms. They immediately yanked me off of Michael, and another man came out of nowhere brandishing a syringe as Michael struggled against the men picking him up. The man holding me flew backwards, but before I could trigger my powers and make Michael and I invisible, the syringe was in my neck and the entire world was becoming fuzzier, and fuzzier, and then black.

<><>

I woke up in a concrete hallway, being dragged along by two men, one holding both of my arms. I barely had time to lift up my head and let out a difficult to push out, “Michael?” before they signalled to someone and another needle was pushed into my neck, bringing me back to the blackness.

<><><>

The next time my eyes forced their way open I was lying on the ground of another all concrete room, but this time with one wall made of glass. I had barely looked up when I saw Michael, looking exhausted and beaten, on the other side of the glass.

“Michael? Michael, can you hear me?” I asked, struggling to sit up and move towards him, though my mind still felt fuzzy and weak, like I would never be fully awake again. His head snapped up and he immediately ran to the glass as quickly as he could in his injured state, looking at me in horror.

“Luke! Watch out, watch out behind you he’s going to--” He didn’t have time to finish his warning before a kick sent me flying towards the wall separating us. I struggled to turn and face my attacker, but they weren’t making it easy as they kicked me in the back, forcing me against the wall even more. Michael was just screaming my name, over and over and over, fear and anger on his face. I put my hand on the glass, reaching for him, and he put his hand on the same spot, but we were still too far apart, the glass was at least two inches thick.

“Isn’t that just adorable?” Someone said before a boot was stepping onto my arm, shattering my wrist as they ground it into the concrete floor with their heel. I felt a scream rip out of me, but I knew I had to be drugged because even with the adrenaline pumping through me I couldn’t wake up fully.

“Just tell us, Michael. Tell us why you did it, and how you did it, and we’ll let both of you go back to school. We’ll let Luke here go back to his family. Wouldn’t you like that? You want him to be happy,” he punctuated this word with another kick to my stomach, forcing me away from the wall, “don’t you?”

“I told you! I didn’t do anything! I don’t even know what you’re talking about! Please, please just stop hurting him, I promise, I didn’t do anything!”

“Michael, you’re the only one strong enough with the right powers to cause an earthquake. And you caused it in  _ your _ hometown, isn’t that a bit suspicious?”

“I was in detention, how could I have done that?”

“We both know that doesn’t stop your powers the way it should because you’re too powerful. We corrected its weaknesses here, though. Now tell us, why,” he picked me up by my shirt, “did you,” he lifted me up higher, “do it?” I was left dangling in the air, too drugged up and weak to actually do anything to fight back, though I tried.

“Please put him down! I’ll lie, I’ll pretend I did it, I’ll do whatever you want, just let him go!”

“We want the truth, Michael. If you don’t want to give that to us…” He pushed me up against the back wall, his hands on my throat. I struggled to breathe, panic in my eyes as I tried to claw him off, but my obviously broken wrist was useless, and the strength in my good arm was waning with every second.

“Stop! Stop it! Don’t kill him, please, please leave him alone he didn’t do anything! He’s innocent!” Michael screamed, slamming on the glass wall so hard his knuckles were becoming bruised and bloody. The man dropped me and I slid down the wall and slammed into the ground, greedily sucking in air.

“Saying that implies that you aren’t. I think that’s some good progress for today, Mr. Clifford. Now guards, can we take Mr. Hemmings back to his cell where he’ll be more comfortable?” The man had a sickly sweet smile on his lips, chuckling to himself as he wiped my blood off his shoe with a rag.

“Michael, no, no, stop! Michael!” I tried to fight against the guards, but they were grabbing my arms and dragging me out. One of them pressed into my wrist, and even the slightest pressure left me screaming out, useless in their strong grips.

“Luke! Leave him alone, he doesn’t deserve this, you know he doesn’t deserve this!” Michael yelled as he kept slamming his now-bloody fists onto the glass. I was being dragged down the concrete hall again before I knew it, and then thrown into a cell with a toilet, sink, and cot in it.

“This is where you’ll be staying until Michael confesses. You better hope your little boyfriend says something soon because this is just the beginning,” the man from before laughed.

“Who are you? Why are you doing this?” I asked, struggling to stand and get onto the cot. He took a step forward and I scrambled back, causing him to let a sigh escape.

“I’m Dr. Parisa, and I’m the reason you’re as extraordinary as you are. I know exactly the flaws in your genetic code, but I know that with Michael, his flaw isn’t in his genetics, it seems that his flaw is a particular attachment to you. You were threatened and he decided to destroy an entire town in the blink of an eye. Now, you see why we can’t have that happening every time that something goes wrong, don’t you? So we’re training him. Bad things happen to you when he does bad things. And he did something awful, Luke. More than twenty people died in the earthquake he caused, and at least forty others were injured. So think of all of this as his fault. I’d understand if you hated him now,” he said, a small, bitter smile on his lips.

“He didn’t do it! He wouldn’t do this, ever, and torturing me isn’t going to get him to do anything, we’ve barely been friends for a week!”

“Friends? Is that what they call it nowadays?” He laughed, “the position we found you in implies a little bit more than friendship, Luke.”

“He… I, I don’t…” How was I supposed to respond to that when I didn’t really know what Michael and I were myself?

“Look, Luke, I couldn’t care less about what your relationship is, I’m just here to take advantage of how it affects Michael. Now, I really didn’t mean to break your wrist, but you know how things get in the heat of the moment,” he paused slightly, waving his hand as if I should understand how simple it is to break someone’s wrist accidentally, “I’ll send in a nurse to fix you up, she’ll also bring you food. I don’t know when I’ll be back for you.” With this, he turned and quickly exited the room. All I caught in the hallway was a glimpse of two guards on either side of the doorway. I curled up into a ball on the bed, trying my best to find a comfortable position, which felt impossible with the bruises I could already feel littering my skin. A little while later a woman came in to set my wrist, but she didn’t help any of my other injuries. I winced as she pressed on my skin, testing the break.

“Sorry about that. Without an xray I’m just blindly hoping that I do everything right by feel,” she said. She finished up quickly and left without saying another word. I sighed and attempted to find a position to fall asleep in, but no matter what I couldn’t quite get comfortable enough to let sleep draw me in. I had almost given up when my door burst open, revealing two guards rushing in to grab me. I tried to scramble backwards in vein, but they still grabbed me and dragged me out into the hall kicking and screaming. As I was being dragged away, I saw Michael in a cell with a glass wall like the one that had been between us earlier. He immediately jumped up and ran to the wall as he watched me come up towards him.

“Luke! Put him down! Luke, I’m going to get us out of here, I promise. Remember what I promised you before this place? I’ll never stop, okay? Never,” he shouted, fingers splayed wide on the glass. I wanted to reach out towards him, but as soon as I tried one of the guards sank his elbow into my stomach. They stopped suddenly, and I noticed straps on the wall seconds before they began securing them around me.

“Michael, I know you didn’t do it, I know,” I said. At this, he pounded harder on the wall, screaming more obscenely for them to let me go. They strapped my wrist into one of the holds, and I screamed as I was let go, leaving my entire body weight on my two wrists. I struggled up by my good wrist, trying to take weight off of my broken bones, and after a second I felt like I was getting a little help. I closed my eyes, knowing that if I looked at Michael they would know that his powers were working. After a few minutes of letting me struggle, they unstrapped me and let me fall in a heap to the ground.

“That’s enough of a lover’s reunion for now. Take him back, he still hasn’t eaten since his arrival,” Dr. Parisa said, his sickly sweet smile working its way across his face.

“He hasn’t eaten? We’ve been here for three days you monsters! What the hell is wrong with you!” Michael screamed. Any sort of small victory from discovering his powers worked was wiped away.

“We’ve been here for three days? I only woke up this morning… I don’t even, I… What?”

“Just let him go god damn it, he hasn’t done anything! He hasn’t done anything wrong just let him go!” I was only half paying attention, as I tried to think about whether or not I was even hungry. I felt a mix of half emotions, half filling up my half empty mind. When I was put back into my cell there was a plate of food that I picked at, but I wasn’t hungry enough to finish it all like I knew I should. A few minutes after eating the haziness in my mind came crashing down and I barely made it to the cot in the corner before I passed out.

<><><><>

The next few days (I guessed) passed with much of the same. I would be dragged out of my cell to see an increasingly injured Michael as I was beaten, and then I would be thrown back into my cell where I would have a bite of food before passing out.

This cycle remained unchanged for days, though there wasn’t an exact number that I could count because I knew they were trying to keep me disoriented and weak, just on the edge of being awake. I felt on the edge of being alive, zombielike in my unwillingness to do anything, to feel anything.

Then one day, that changed. My cell door slammed open, and there stood Michael, in all his glory, fire burning in his eyes.

“Luke, come on, we’ve gotta go,” he said, running forwards and helping me up, carefully avoiding my injured wrist. I stood, stumbling a little bit, and tried to keep up with him as we ran through the halls. He seemed to know exactly where we were going, and I wanted to ask how, but my still slightly drugged up brain wasn’t fully ready to run and talk at the same time.

“Can you use your powers?” He asked while we were still jogging.

“I don’t… think so… I’ll try.” I attempted to make Michael invisible, and it worked, but I couldn’t also make myself invisible. I tried, and I tripped from the exertion of trying to focus. Michael immediately stopped and lifted me up, and we kept running.

“So I’m invisible, but you aren’t? I think… I don’t know, Luke you should make yourself invisible, they only want to hold me, they only have you to hurt me, you don’t need to risk yourself anymore,” he said. I shook my head, straying from my straight path for a moment as the world spun from the action. We stopped suddenly 

“They don’t care about me, they only want to hurt you. We’re getting the fuck out of here anyways,” I panted. Suddenly there were a bunch of people in our path.

“It’s the Hemmings boy! He’s alone!” They started shooting, and I started dodging them. Apparently it had been just long enough since my last dose of whatever drug they were giving me, as the adrenaline was enough to let me trigger my powers.

“Michael?” I whispered, “What do we do? Where are we going?” I felt an invisible hand grab mine, and he tugged me down as the bullets around us that were aimed at us just barely missed. I knew it was Michael keeping a low profile, and I was glad that I could feel him even if I couldn’t see him.

“They’re here! Hemmings has invisibility you idiots! Clifford very well might be with him, there’s no way they could devise a plan! They haven’t had alone time! We need to stop them before they figure out a real plan!” Parisa was yelling at the soldiers. Suddenly Michael blew out a hole in the side of the hallway, and pulled me out as he jumped.

“After them you idiots! They can’t talk!” Parisa shouted, obviously disgruntled. By the time we landed there were trucks on the ground coming after us, but they all scattered, not knowing where exactly to go. Michael flipped one of them that was nowhere near us and a few of the ones near us deferred to follow that path. I was suddenly not on the ground and flying towards a mountain surrounding the compound we’d been trapped in.

“Michael, what the hell are we doing?” I asked.

“Just wait, Luke, I’ve got a plan, okay?”

“Okay, I trust you. Just get us away from these bullets.”

With that we fell back into silence, and after a few minutes we landed on a cliff that led to a small cave. As soon as we landed I fell over, but I heard Michael walking into the cave and crawled after him. Once I knew that no one would be able to see us unless they were literally outside the cave I dropped my powers and sat against the wall, panting.

“Luke? Shit, I didn’t even think, I… Have they even been feeding you? Wasn’t your wrist fixed, what happened to it? God, I can’t believe they did this… I…” He crouched down in front of me and started taking stock of my injuries, and how my bones seemed to poke out a little bit from where they were once firmly hidden in my skin. I saw his eyes scanning over me, and I felt the need to hide away. They’d given me new clothes earlier, as they did at seemingly random intervals.

“Michael, how long… how long were we there? I don’t even know what day it is. I thought it was going to be night when we got out,” I said. I was scanning over Michael, and he looked as bad as what I assume I looked like.

“We were there for two weeks, Luke. Didn’t you have a window, or anything in your cell?”

“No, I just… I woke up, and they’d bring me to where you were, and then I’d come back and the nurse would come if any of my injuries were too bad, and then they’d force me to eat food with some sort of drug in it, and then I’d go back to sleep.”

“Luke, I wouldn’t see you for days! And you’re telling me they just made you sleep?”

“Yeah, I don’t really… I don’t know. I don’t want to go back there,” I said in a small voice. Michael reached out towards me and ghosted his fingertips over my arms.

“I’m so sorry, Luke. They never should’ve done this to you. It’s all my fault. How did you rebreak your wrist? I really thought it was getting better, Sandy told me it was getting better!”

“Yesterday, I think, when they were… They were drowning you I was there, and I couldn’t get to you, and I was just pounding on the glass, I just wanted to help you and I hit too hard, but it isn’t rebroken, that’s what the nurse told me. She said it was just bruised… But I, I couldn’t get to you, I’m so sorry Michael, I couldn’t help you,” I said, my voice cracking as I felt tears well up in my eyes. Michael immediately pulled me, carefully, into his arms.

“I’m fine, Luke, everything is okay. It’s over, it’s all over now, shh.” I could tell he didn’t quite believe his words from the tears that were falling into my hair.

“How? They still think you did it, and you heard Parisa, he thinks we’re going to talk, and they can’t have that. They’re going to put us back in there, Michael, they’re going to put us back and I don’t know if I can do that again. Michael we can’t go back there, we can’t we have to do something, I, I--” I was cut off by my own panicked breaths, taking away any ability to respond to Michael in a coherent manner.

“Luke, look at me. Look at me,” Michael took my face in his hands, forcing my eyes to meet his, “I’m not letting them get you ever again, okay? Even if we have to never show our faces ever again, I won’t ever let them get you again.” His eyes were alight with a fierceness I wanted to have right now, but all I felt was the smallest bit of hope. He had a fire, and I could barely get a spark. He leaned in, his forehead just barely touching mine, and ran his thumb over my lips.

“This is all my fault, Luke. I’m so sorry that they hurt you because they think I did something. I should never have dragged you into this, it’s all my fault. God, I’m so sorry, Luke. I’m so sorry.”

I watched from inches away as tears fell from his eyes, and I still felt hazy, there was only so much that I could handle right now. I knew I had to make him know that this was worth it for him.

“Michael, I… I just want you to know that I don’t blame you, don’t give me that look now, I don’t. I blame whoever did this,” I said. I looked at his lips, and he sucked in a shaky breath. I kissed him gently, wishing I could pull him closer, but there was only so much I could do with one wrist. He pulled away gently, looking into my eyes.

“Thank you. Now come on, you need to get some rest, sleep off whatever drug they’ve been feeding you.” He pulled me away gently, and I shifted so that I was laying down on the floor of the cave. Michael rolled his eyes and pulled my head into his lap, running his fingers through my dirty and tangled hair.

“I’ll be right here when you wake up,” he whispered. With that, I let myself be lulled into what I hoped would be a dreamless sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you don't hate me for that sudden turn in the tone! This is probably the darkest chapter so just STAY TUNED
> 
> Comments make my day and inspire me to write more!
> 
> Thanks again for reading you guys are great.
> 
> If you want to scream about this fic or muke or any combination of those things, send me a message on my tumblr (lukesnotpunk)


	8. The End of Easy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the update! Sorry it's a bit late, school is frying my brain.

I managed to sleep dreamlessly, though I blamed it on the fact that I was still half drugged. When I woke up, Michael was staring at the mouth of the cave.

“Michael, you’ve got to get some rest. How long have I been asleep?”

“Since last night. I fell asleep for a little bit too, don’t worry, I’m fine. We have to figure out how to get supplies.” I sat up, and Michael let me slip out of his arms as I shakily stood up.

I triggered my powers, just to see if I could, and I felt myself slip into invisibility. I smiled and became visible again. When Michael saw my expression the one of worry on his face immediately disappeared.

“We should go to Ashley, she’ll know what to do. We can sneak into my house. If I’ve really been missing for this long, she’ll be going straight home after school.”

“Okay, we’ll just have to be careful… I don’t think we’re too far from Camelot, so we can definitely make it back in time.”

“Do you think they’re watching her? They won’t… They won’t hurt them, my family, will they? That’d be too noticeable, right?” Michael looked up at me with sad eyes and sighed.

“I don’t know what they’re capable of anymore, Luke. I really don’t know. Maybe we should just stop somewhere less conspicuous that she might go to today.”

A silence fell over us as I kept thinking. I knew Ashley had to know that I was okay, and I knew she was the only one who would be able to keep us secret even if she was in contact with us.

“We’re going to go to my house first--”  
“Luke are you crazy? They might not be watching your whole family that closely, but they’re definitely watching your house, there’s no way I’m risking you like that--”

“Michael, listen for a minute, okay?” I paused to make sure he would just listen, and he took a deep breath and nodded, “I’ve got a plan.”

<><><>

Flying towards my own house, invisible, was unnerving. When we landed and waited for Ashley to come home, it only got worse. I knew right where the spare key was, and how I would have to slightly jiggle the handle for the key to fit right, but I couldn’t risk opening the door and someone figuring out that Michael and I were there. When Ashley’s car pulled in the driveway, I saw her look at the house and sigh before climbing out. The spring in her step was gone, and I knew it was my fault. She had dyed her hair blue in my absence, and the color seemed to fit her more than her natural brown ever had, but there was still a heaviness to her that couldn’t be solved with a box of hair dye. She unlocked the door and opened it, and Michael and I quickly slipped in before it could close all the way, just barely disrupting its slow close.

“Ashley, don’t react they might be watching, it’s me. Michael’s here too,” I whispered from a few feet behind her. She had begun to tense up, but instead she just casually pulled out her phone and plugged them into the set of my dad’s speakers we kept in the living room. She started blasting Green Day and casually walked to the kitchen.

“Where have you been?” She asked, accusation thick in her voice.

“They, the government, they think… They think Michael caused an earthquake, and when they came for him I was with him, and they took us both,” I was still half whispering.

“I’m going to go to the bathroom now, there aren’t any windows in there. I need to see you. Michael, you can come too,” she said quietly, getting up and walking towards the bathroom in the basement. She opened the door and left it open as she searched through the cupboard. She pulled out a box of tampons and then shut the door.

“If anyone was watching, they’ll just think I’m a bit busy. Now come on, appear, please, I need to see you.”

“Okay, I just, don’t scream or anything, okay? I don’t look good right now,” I said. She nodded, and I reappeared. She immediately had tears in her eyes, and she reached out for me.

“Luke, what the hell happened to you? Why are you so…” She stopped herself as she pulled me in for a hug. I tried my hardest not to wince because I knew she needed this right now.

“They didn’t want to kill us because they want to use our powers in the future, but they think that Michael did what he did because… of all that stuff with me that happened at school, and so they were torturing me to get to him. I’m fine now though, we just have to clear Michael’s name and everything will be fine.” I knew this was a lie, but I was banking on Ashley’s shock getting rid of her ability to figure out my lies as she usually did.

“Okay… What can I do? I have to help you, obviously. That’s why you came here, right?”

“We just need, like, food. Maybe some other supplies. We can come back a few times if we need to to get everything, but yeah. That’d be good,” I said, a small smile on my face.

“Michael, you better not be lying. This had better all be worth it,” Ashley said. I realized I’d never made him reappear and did so quickly. 

He took a deep breath and looked at me before replying, “I think it will be.”

We exited the bathroom shortly thereafter and Ashley started to gather supplies, sticking to whispering to ask us specifics, even though the Green Day was still blaring through the speakers. She left the shower running, acting like she was getting things ready for it, so that Michael and I could clean off all of the blood and grime we’d accumulated in our weeks away. By the time that we left, we had about enough peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to last us a week, granola bars, and water.

“I’ll buy burner cell phones tomorrow on my way home from school. I’ll just make it look like I’m stopping for cigarettes,” she said.

“Ash, you said you quit months ago!”

“I did. Then my brother went missing. It’s kind of a stressful situation, even if those assholes faked you a note saying the two of you ran away,”

“Wait, they did  _ what? _ But I, I promised mom that if I ever ran away again, and I was okay I’d call her. She had to know that, right?”

“She knew. She hasn’t stopped looking for you, even though the police are being lax about it, saying that you’ll come back when you want to.” Ashley sighed as she stared at our backyard.

“Luke, we have to go. Your parents will be home any minute.”

“Ashley can you, can you tell them that I’m alright? But that I’m in danger so I can’t come back. Mom has to know that I didn’t just leave,” I said.

“I’ll tell her. Be back tomorrow and I’ll have everything else, but now you’ve got to go,” I heard my mom pull into the driveway and Ashley’s eyes widened, “Go now! Get out of here!” With that, Michael interlaced his fingers with mine, and we were off again.

<><><>

Back at the cave, we scarfed down as much food as we could fit into our shrunken stomachs, and then we sat around and brainstormed who else could’ve possibly done what Michael had been accused of.

“Okay, but who actually hates you  _ that _ much? And is powerful enough to do this?” I asked.

“I don’t know… Maybe Jackson? I mean, we did literally get in a fight  _ right _ before we were taken. He has the motive.”

“But not the means. All he can do is manipulate water. He’s not particularly strong with it either, I mean you saw the weak attempt to take you out when you guys were fighting.”

“Yeah, but I just… Who else has a reason?”

“Michael, I hate to say this, but not a lot of people at school like you. It could’ve been a few people at least. What about my other dick friends, who else was beating you up in the bathroom that day?”

“Uh, let me think… Greg?”

“No, he’s a strength specializer.”

“Okay, what about… Alex?”

“Alex? Well, I… His powers have to do with telekinesis too, he’s just not as strong as you.”

“But what if he got stronger? And hid it?”

“I don’t know… I mean, I can’t see Alex doing this.”

“So we’re right back at square one again?” Michael asked. I sighed and nodded.

“Maybe we should go to your hometown and see if we can figure anything out from there? Maybe whoever did it left behind some sort of clue or something.”

“Okay, Shaggy, lets go,” he teased. I hadn’t seen him drop his serious demeanor since we were taken, and even if it was only in place for a few seconds it was nice to see. I started packing up our things, and Michael gave me a confused look.

“We’ve got to hide it, you know, in case they look in here for us. We’re still pretty close.” I rolled up the sleeping bag Ashley had gotten out of our basement, and Michael followed suit with the one he’d been sitting on. As I stuffed it back into the backpack she’d given me also, my hand ran over something unfamiliar, and when I pulled it out I immediately started blushing and stuffed it back in. My eyes quickly glanced to Michael, and I blushed even harder when I saw that he noticed it.

“I didn’t, I didn’t tell Ashley to put this in here, I don’t know how--” Michael was laughing so hard he had to lean against the wall.

“Luke, I didn’t think you actually asked your  _ sister _ to put lube in your bag of vital supplies while,” he was laughing so hard he had to stop talking, “while we’re on the run from the  _ law _ . Oh my god, that’s classic.” Once the extreme embarrassment wore off a little bit, I joined Michael in laughing because it’s such an Ashley thing to do. She’s still going to get it for hiding it in there though because it definitely wasn’t on the list of things I told her to grab. I didn’t even want to ask her why she had lube lying around, and how she got it into my bag without us noticing, so I pushed the thoughts to the back of my mind as I pushed the bottle to the bottom of my bag. As soon as I was packed up I turned to Michael to find him waiting for me. He reached out his hand with a smile, and I took it before triggering my powers and turning us invisible. Michael lifted us off the ground, and we were off to Michael’s hometown again.

When we arrived, it was nothing like the happy little town we’d visited a few weeks prior. Even though we standing on the street that had been bustling with business and happy shoppers before, there was barely anyone out on the street, and there were cracks surrounding the entire perimeter of the town, and a few running down the middle. We walked past where we’d gotten ice cream last time we were here, avoiding the large crack in the middle of the street.

“They think you did this? You could never do… this. You’d have to be so terrible to do this, there are… Kids, and families, and people's entire lives here, and someone just… destroyed that.” Michael squeezed my hand, but stayed silent. We got closer to the cracks to try to figure out if anything could possibly be there to tell us who it was. Standing and looking over the edge, the cracks went deeper than I could see, blackness shrouding whatever was down more than twenty feet.

“Thank you for believing me. If you had thought that I did it, I don’t know what I would’ve done,” he said quietly, gently pulling me closer so that he could wrap an arm around me.

“Even when I hated you I knew you enough to know you were never capable of this.” We stood in silence, looking over the crack and at the town that’d been destroyed by someone who had too much hatred in their heart, their heart as black as the abyss we stood over now.

“Parisa told me that it was them, when I was a kid. I didn’t set the fire in my apartment, at least not badly enough to trap and kill everyone,” I wished so badly in that moment that I could see him, that I could tell him with a look that I was here for him, but I had to settle for feeling him close and squeezing his hand, “they heard the fire alarm go off when I knocked over the candle and barged in and helped the fire along a bit. My parents sent me out as soon as they knew what was happening, but before my parents could escape they blocked off the only exit to the hallway and knocked down the fire escape. My parents tried to save my sister, but they shot them all.”

For a minute I couldn’t even comprehend what he’d just told me.

“Why? That’s so… How could they do that?”

“They wanted to study my mom because the genetic modifications were so strong in her, but she didn’t want to be a test subject. She thought it was bad enough that we were fucked up because of the drugs, she didn’t want to have any more kids to subject to that. They decided that since the opportunity was so easily there, and she wasn’t going to change her mind they might as well do it.”

“I’m sorry, Michael. I’m so sorry,” I whispered. Suddenly someone opened their door along the street, squinting slightly in our direction.

“Is someone out here? This street hasn’t been cleared as being completely safe yet, you really should stay away,” A man called, looking around for signs of life. I gulped and squeezed Michael’s hand, and we were off again, back to the relative safety of the cave.

When we arrived we started unpacking our things, setting up the little lantern to ward off the darkness encroaching as the sun set on the other side of the mountain. 

He rolled out his sleeping bag next to mine, and once we had both climbed into them, I turned to face him.

“How did you know about this place?”

“The nurse, she told me about it,” he responded. Before I could say anything else, he continued, effectively cutting me off before I could protest, “she told me about how you were every time she saw you. She hates that place too, and Parisa was keeping her there because she’s his daughter, but she hates him so much. He raised her to become a doctor just like him, but when she was still in pre med he actually brought her to work one day, and she saw how awful he was, and she wanted to quit, but he obviously couldn’t let her go with everything she knew. So now she just takes care of the prisoners. She said she could tell that I was innocent, and that she wanted to help in any way she could. So every time she came to patch me up she told me more about how to get to your cell and out of the compound and up here. It’s safe, I promise. She would never sell us out.” The pure belief in his eyes was enough to sway most of my doubt, but I still felt on edge.

“Okay… I trust you, so I suppose if you trust her…”

“I do, really. I promise, Luke. We’re safe here. I would never put you in danger.” I nodded and yawned. A fond smile fell onto Michael’s face, and he reached his hand out of his sleeping bag towards me. I moved a little bit closer so that I was just inches away from him and held on, a smile on my face. Michael reached over and turned off the light before settling back into his sleeping bag.

“We’re going to be okay, right?” I asked. The question had been plaguing my mind all day, and I wanted someone to tell me that all of this hiding and torture and running was temporary. 

After a moment’s pause he responded, “Yeah, we’re going to be okay.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I hope you liked that chapter! If you did you should comment and send me messages on my tumblr (lukesnotpunk) because it completely makes my day/week/month/year/life!


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